Laura Spagnolo

Laura Spagnolo is Professor of Biophysical Chemistry in the Molecular Biosciences department at the University of Glasgow and Group Leader at the Research Complex at Harwell. She co-founded the Scottish Centre for Macromolecular Imaging and leads research on genome editing mechanisms using integrated structural biology approaches. She holds an MSc in Pharmacy from the University of Trieste and a PhD from the University of Padova/EMBL Heidelberg.

Her research focuses on:

• Structural mechanisms of CRISPR systems and DNA repair complexes
• Macromolecular assemblies in genome editing and RNA metabolism
• Multi-scale structural analysis from atomic to cellular resolution

Her publications demonstrate consistent focus on structural biology of DNA/RNA-processing complexes, with recent work emphasizing CRISPR machinery, DNA repair systems, and archaeal biology using cryo-EM and biochemical approaches.

Active grants include:

• BBSRC funding for Staufen protein microscopy (2024-2027)
• MRC support for electron microscopy modernization (2022-2023)
• BBSRC project on DNA recombinases (2022-2025)
• Scottish Funding Council grants for macromolecular imaging (2018-2021)

She directs the Spagnolo research group studying genome engineering complexes and collaborates with the Scottish Macromolecular Imaging Centre.