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The
Protein Biochemistry, Folding and Stability
Laboratory is a research team within the Biological
Chemistry Division of ITQB/UNL. The
laboratory is interested in understanding the molecular determinants
of protein structure and conformational stability. This topic has
a direct impact on the protein folding problem and on the so-called
conformational diseases.
Studied
models include human proteins involved in metabolic and neurodegenerative
conformational diseases, which become misfolded or aggregated as
a result of missense mutations or adverse stress conditions. The
topic of metals and protein folding is also investigated under the
perspective of understanding the interplay between the polypeptide
chain conformation and the metal ion or cluster (such as zinc and
calcium ions or iron-sulfur clusters)
Experimentally,
we use a complementary set of tools, ranging from biochemical and
molecular biology methodologies to biophysical, spectroscopic and
proteomics techniques.
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