Other Group members:

post-Doc: Alessandro Emendato

PhD students: Masoud Delfi, Rosanna Lucignano.

Research:

The group "Biologia Strutturale" (Stuctural Biology) focuses on the structure, folding and self-assembly mechanism of proteins and peptides to investigate the structural bases of their biological properties and to design new mutants and smart biomaterials with improved properties. The experimental approach includes rational design, molecular biology, optical spectroscopies, high resolution microscopy techniques and biomolecular NMR. The main topics currently under investigation in the group are: 1) Self-assembling proteins with new potential applications, with particular emphasis to antitumoral drugs, drug delivery systems and biomaterials design; 2) Structure,  stability and interactions of bioactive peptides, including hormones and amyloidogenic peptides associated to human neurological pathologies, such as Alzheimer and Parkinson diseases; 3) Rational design, production and  characterization of Sweet Proteins, in light of their perspective applications as high intensity sweeteners.