PROTEINS RELATED TO PATHOGENESIS OF DISEASES, VIRAL PROTEINS, CELL DIVISION, SIGNALLING AND CHROMATIN PROCESSES

The outstanding research questions of our BAG (now expanded to 9 PIs) focus on proteins and their complexes involved in a variety of processes, ranging from cell homeostasis (from gene regulation to folding quality control, from energy metabolism to signal transduction) to communication and surface recognition (including trans-interactions between cell adhesion molecules, components of the extracellular matrix weaving, as well as antigen-antibody interactions for vaccine development and optimization). Key to several projects is the characterization of the mechanisms associated to enzyme function in various organisms, including bacteria, viruses, plants, animals and humans for downstream drug discovery campaigns. Emphasis is also given to research focusing on engineering protein and enzymes for future industrial applications, as well as to understand the impact of pathogenic mutations on protein structures, providing a genotype-to-molecular phenotype rationale to disease development.

我们的BAG（目前已扩充至9名项目负责人（Principal Investigators，PIs））所聚焦的核心研究问题，围绕参与多种生命过程的蛋白质及其复合物展开。相关生命过程涵盖细胞稳态（从基因调控、折叠质量控制、能量代谢到信号转导），以及细胞通讯与表面识别领域，其中包括细胞黏附分子的反式相互作用、细胞外基质构建相关组分，以及用于疫苗开发与优化的抗原-抗体相互作用。多项研究项目的核心在于解析不同生物体（包括细菌、病毒、植物、动物与人类）中与酶功能相关的作用机制，以此支撑下游药物发现工作。本研究同时重点关注面向未来工业应用的蛋白质与酶工程研究，以及致病性突变对蛋白质结构的影响机制，为疾病发生发展提供基因型至分子表型层面的理论阐释依据。