Meet the Team
Marta Popovic
Marta has set up her first research group in February, 2018, after being awarded the 5 year Installation grant by the Croatian National Science Foundation (UIP-2017-05-5258) for her work on DNA-protein crosslinks (DPC). Since then, she has been studying the mechanisms of DPC repair combining structural biology, cell systems and animal models.
Cecile Otten
Cecile joined the group as a postdoctoral fellow in 2019, and is a tenure-track research scientist since 2023. She is an experienced zebrafish researcher who did her PhD at the Max-Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC), Berlin, Germany in the group of of Prof. Salim Seyfried. She then continued as a postdoctoral felllow in the Seyfried group at the Potsdam University before moving to Zagreb.
Marin Kutnjak
Marin Kutnjak joined the group as a PhD student in December 2021. He acquired a Master of Science degree in Molecular Biology at the Faculty of Science, the University of Zagreb, in 2021 with a summa cum laude. In 2021 he was awarded the Rector’s Award of the University of Zagreb, the highest award for students in Croatia, for an individual research paper.
Marija Pranjic
Marija joined the group in 2025 as a postdoctoral fellow, after completing her PhD in the group of Ita Gruic Sovic at the Biochemistry Department, University of Zagreb where she studied aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases. She is an experienced biochemist and a mass spectrometry expert.
Marina Horvaticek
Marina joined the group in 2025 as a zebrafish facility manager. She completed her PhD in 2017 at the Medical Faculty, University of Zagreb studying gestational diabetes. She then worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Ruder Boskovic Institute studying human metabolism, before joining the group.
Leona Verasto
Leona joined the group as a PhD student in 2025 after finishing Master of Biotechnology in Medicine at the Faculty of Biotechnology and Drug Research, University of Rijeka, Croatia.
Past members
Dr. Ivan Antičević, next destination: Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, postdoctoral fellow in the group of prof. Kristijan Ramadan
Dr. Christine Supina-Pavic, next destination: Institut Ruder Boskovic, postdoctoral fellow in the Laboratory for protein dynamics
Dr. Nives Ivić, next destination: Research Scientist Protein Crystallography, Munich, Germany