I come from Bosnia and Herzegovina where I received my BSc in Genetics at International Burch University in Sarajevo in 2015. I obtained my MSc degree in Genetics at the same university in 2017. While working on my master thesis, I had an opportunity to collaborate with professor from Faculty of dental sciences at the University of Sarajevo and work on analysis of gene expression in human periapical inflammatory lesions at the same time looking for potential biomarkers for differentiation of different types of lesions.
I am IMForFUTURE ESR 4 working under the supervision of professor Gordan Lauc at Genos Ltd., private-owned company specializing in the field of glycobiology. The main goal of my research is to study complex genetics of protein glycosylation, more precisely immunoglobulin G (IgG) N-glycosylation. IgG is the most common antibody in humans and it plays a prominent role in immune response. N-glycosylation represents a post-translational protein modification that has great influence on structure and function of IgG and defects in this pathway can result in severe diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis and different types of cancers.
Current work
At the moment I am running GWAS of derived IgG N-glycan traits which will give us insight into genetic background of IgG N-glycosylation and help us in identifying key drivers of changes in this process. This work also provides a basis for future analyses of effects of gene-gene and gene-environment interactions in the complex pathway of protein glycosylation.
One of my projects is the gene-environment interaction analysis of IgG N-glycosylation where I aim to combine glycomic, epigenomic and genomic data to see how changes in one mechanism can lead to changes in the other, allowing us to connect the puzzle pieces and see a clearer picture of what happens in the IgG N-glycosylation process.
Secondments
University of Edinburgh
Intersectoral secondments are a big part of MSCA ITNs and offer a great opportunity for early stage researchers to see and get the best of the both worlds. My visit to the Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine allowed me to gain new knowledge and experiences in academic environment which will help me make progress in my research and move closer towards the project goals.

King’s College London
During my visit to KCL, I got the opportunity to learn more about epigenomics and ways of incorporating it in my study of gene-environment interaction in IgG N-glycome. Visiting other institutions enables young researchers to gain more insight into institutional culture, how information is shared and how people communicate in the group but also between the groups. Every aspect of my visit was indeed a really valuable and useful scientific experience but also an important career life lesson.
Public engagement
IMForFUTURE promotes will and interest in engaging with public to show how science can be fun and exciting and also how science progresses every day and shapes our future. Being an active member of Marie Curie Alumni Association gives me opportunities to participate in various events which promote science with focus on the ones organized in Western Balkans countries. IMforFUTURE network also presents a great way to promote our work by organizing public engagement events, such as the one organized in Split in June, 2019.