Research

Research interests

• Membrane proteins:

  • Chemosensory G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) – bitter taste and olfactory receptors.

  • Oxytocin receptor – disease-linked mutations

  • Vesicular glutamate transporters (VGLUTs) – proton dependency and substrate recognition.

  • Voltage-gated calcium channels (Cavs) – membrane trafficking.

  • Pentameric ligand gated ion channels (pLGICs) – photomodulation.

  • Inward rectifier potassium (Kir) channels – lipid modulation.

• Metalloproteins:

  • Isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) – cancer-associated mutations.

  • Endonucleases – allosteric regulation and ligand binding.

  • Hemeproteins – catalytic mechanism.

• Computational tools:

  • Molecular dynamics simulations – ab initio, classical and hybrid QM/MM and MM/CG.

  • Enhanced sampling / Free energy techniques – metadynamics.

  • Molecular docking – protein-ligand and protein-protein.

Collaborations

Current collaborations

• Chemosensory GPCRs:

  • Prof. Paolo Carloni, Forschungszentrum Jülich and RWTH Aachen University (Germany).

  • Prof. Alejandro Giorgetti, University of Verona (Italy).

  • Ernesto Illy Foundation, Trieste (Italy).

  • Prof. Riccardo Capelli, University of Milan LaStatale (Italy).

• Coffee compounds:

  • Dr. Luciano Navarini, illy caffè, S.p.A. (Italy).

  • Prof. Paolo Carloni, Forschungszentrum Jülich and RWTH Aachen University (Germany).

  • Prof. Giulia Rossetti, Forschungszentrum Jülich and RWTH Aachen University (Germany).

  • Ernesto Illy Foundation, Trieste (Italy).

  • Italian Liver Foundation, Trieste (Italy).

• Oxytocin receptor:

  • Prof. Paolo Carloni, Forschungszentrum Jülich and RWTH Aachen University (Germany).

  • Prof. Alejandro Giorgetti, University of Verona (Italy).

  • Prof. Francesco Musiani, University of Bologna (Italy).

  • Dr. Xiaojing Cong, Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle (France).

• Vesicular glutamate transporters:

  • Prof. Christoph Fahlke, Forschungszentrum Jülich and HHU Düsseldorf (Germany).

  • Prof. Paolo Carloni, Forschungszentrum Jülich and RWTH Aachen University (Germany).

• Voltage-gated calcium channels:

  • Prof. Patricia Hidalgo, Forschungszentrum Jülich and HHU Düsseldorf (Germany).

  • Dr. Beatrix Santiago-Schuebel, Forschungszentrum Jülich (Germany).

• pLGICs:

  • Prof. Pau Gorostiza, Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (Spain).

  • Prof. Piotr Bregestovski, Aix-Marseille Université (France).

  • Prof. Burkhard König, University of Regensburg (Germany).

  • Prof. Carme Rovira, University of Barcelona (Spain).

Past collaborations

• Neuropeptide Y receptor:

  • Prof. Jonel Trebicka, University of Münster (Germany) & European Foundation for the study of chronic liver failure .

• Potassium inward rectifier channels:

  • Prof. Giacomo Fiorin, Institute for Computational Molecular Science - Temple University (USA) (now at NIH)

  • Prof. Chris MacDermaid, Institute for Computational Molecular Science - Temple University (USA) (now at Agenus).

  • Prof. Lucie Delemotte, SciLife Lab - KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden).

  • Prof. Michael L. Klein, Institute for Computational Molecular Science - Temple University (USA).

• Isocitrate dehydrogenase:

  • Prof. Ana M. Gamero, School of Medicine - Temple University (USA).

• Endonucleases:

  • Prof. Allen W. Nicholson, Dept. of Biology and Chemistry - Temple University (USA).

  • Prof. Lieve Naesens, Rega Institute for Medical Research - KU Leuven (Belgium).

• Hemeproteins:

  • Prof. Ignacio Fita, Structural Biology Unit - Molecular Biology Institute of Barcelona (IBMB - CSIC, Spain).

  • Prof. Peter C. Loewen, Dept. of Microbiology - University of Manitoba (Canada).