The Biological Chemistry division investigates biological function by studying chemical mechanisms in proteins, cofactors, membranes and macromolecular assemblies, linking structure, dynamics and reactivity.

Much of the division’s research addresses molecular mechanisms in redox biology and bioenergetics, including how cells capture, transfer and use energy, how metal centres, redox cofactors and enzymes mediate electron transfer, catalysis and regulation, and how microbes respond to metals and reactive oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur species.
The division also studies proteins and macromolecular assemblies relevant to health, including viral and host-related systems, intrinsically disordered proteins, and other biomedical targets. This work is supported by expertise in protein biochemistry, molecular biology, microbiology, crystallography, cryo-EM, NMR, EPR, SAXS, vibrational spectroscopy, bioelectrochemistry, molecular simulation and computational protein design.

Head of division: Cláudio M. Soares