Protein, peptide and metabolite self-assembly
Our lab has been extensively involved in the study of molecular self-assembly in physiological and pathological states. The approach is reductionist and we were able to identify very short recognition elements – as short as dipeptides – that form ordered assemblies at the nano-scale. These assemblies show remarkable physical properties. Recent activity in the lab relates to metabolites that form amyloid-like fibrils that extend the amyloid hypothesis.
Keywords
Molecular self-assembly / nanotechnology / nanotubes / amyloid / diabetes / drug design / metabolite amyloids / bio-inspired materials