she/her/hers
Physical & Biological Sciences Division
Assistant Professor
Faculty
Physical Sciences Building
258
PSB 290 (lab)
Chemistry
Postdoc, Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry, Eshelman School of Pharmacy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Ph.D., Biophysics, Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences
M.S., Biotechnology, Molecular Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Warsaw
B.S., Biophysics, Molecular Design and Bioinformatics, School of Physical Sciences, University of Warsaw
B.S., Biotechnology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Warsaw
Biochemistry, Biophysics, Structural biology (cryo-EM), Proteomics, Molecular and Cell Biology
Chromatin, Nucleosomes, Histones, Epigenetics, E3 ubiquitin ligases
Given that histone accumulation is toxic to cells and leads to genomic instability – which is a hallmark of all human cancers – understanding the mechanisms of histone homeostasis is critical. The overall goal of my research program is to elucidate the human histone homeostasis pathways, with a particular focus on histone degradation and the protein interaction networks of histone complexes. Over the next few years, my laboratory will conduct comprehensive genomic and proteomic screens to illuminate proteins involved in maintaining and degrading histone complexes. This work will lay the foundation for future projects that delve deeper into the mechanistic aspects of histone life cycle in healthy and cancerous cells. Our ulitmate goal is to solve cryo-EM structures of histone degradation complexes providing a new framework for developing cancer therapeutics.
2025 Forbeck Scholar Award, Forbeck Foundation
2023 Postdoctoral Award for Research Excellence, UNC Chapel Hill
2019-2022 American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellowship
Skrajna A.#, Robinson E., Cannon K., Sarsam R., Ouellette R. G., Brennwald P., McGinty R. K., Strauss J. D.#, and Baker R. W. #, “Nickel-NTA lipid-monolayer affinity grids allow for high-resolution structure determination by cryo-EM”, BioRxiv DOI:10.1101/2025.04.24.650495, April 24, 2025. #Corresponding authors
Skrajna A.*, Bodrug T.*, Martinez-Chacin R. C., Fisher C. B., Welsh K. A., Simmons H. C., Arteaga E. C., Simmons J. M., Nasr M. A., LaPak K. M., Nguyen A., Huynh M. T., Fargo I., Welfare J. G., Zhao Y., Lawrence D. S., Goldfarb D., Brown N. G. and McGinty R. K., “APC/C-mediated ubiquitylation of extranucleosomal histone complexes lacking canonical degrons”, Nat Commun 16, 2561, 2025. *Co-first authors
Spangler C. J.*, Skrajna A.*, Foley C. A., Nguyen A., Budziszewski G. R., Azzam D. N., Arteaga E. C., Simmons H. C., Smith C. B., McPherson J-M. E., Wesley N. A., Kireev D., James L. I., Frye S. V., Goldfarb D. and McGinty R. K., “Structural basis of paralog-specific KDM2A/B nucleosome recognition", Nat. Chem. Biol., 19(5), 624-632, 2023. *Co-first authors
Skrajna A., Goldfarb D., Kedziora K. M., Cousins E. M., Grant G. D., Anderson C. J., Barbour E. H., Yan X., Hathaway N. A., Brown N. G., Cook J. G., Major M. B. and McGinty R. K., “Comprehensive nucleosome interactome screen reveals dominant role of acidic patch in nucleosome binding", Nucleic Acids Res., 48(17), 9415-9432, 2020. NAR Breakthrough Article