Study the properties of protein (or peptide)-membrane to explain its function.

What we do

Systems of interest

1. Proteins and peptides involved on cell-death at the level of the membrane. These can be simple and direct membrane attackers, like peptide antibiotics, or complex regulators of physiological cell-death, like apoptotic Bcl-2 type proteins.
2. Amphitropic proteins. The proteins and peptides above can have both water-soluble and membrane-bound folds, and the transition between them is a way to regulate their function. We study such transition as a refolding or structure adaptation process, for which we handle basic principles of (general) protein folding, membrane-protein insertion and membrane-protein assembly.

Methods
We are a multidisciplinary group working in a multidisciplinary environment. Thus we use all necessary methods, with the only limit of availability. In some cases this involves external collaborations.

1. Molecular Biology Methods: (Gene cloning, expression and mutagenesis, protein isolation and purification).
2. Peptide and Protein Chemistry: (Chemical peptide synthesis, HPLC)
3. Experimental Biophysical Methods: (CD, IR and Fluorescence spectroscopies, NMR, Calorimetry)
4. Computational Biophysical Methods: (Molecular Simulations, Simulations of Spectra, Free Energy Calculations).