Women in BioCop - Biographies
Organisation: Universit� di Roma Tor Vergata
Country: Rome, Italy
During my Master thesis in chemistry, I studied the solution structure of synthetic Ca,a-disubstituted aminoacid-based oligopeptides using spectroscopic techniques (steady state and time-resolved fluorescence, circular dichroism, electronic and vibrational absorption) in conjunction with molecular mechanics calculations. Successively, during my PhD, I investigated the mechanism of action of the natural lipopetaibol antibiotic trichogin GA IV. I combined several experimental techniques (fluorescence spectroscopy, polarized ATR-FTIR, circular dichroism, conductivity experiments on planar bilayer, fluorescence microscopy, in vivo activity essays) to attain a detailed characterization of the physical-chemical parameters that rule its interaction with lipid membranes and the formation of pores.
At present, working as post-doc within the BioCop project, my role is to investigate a set of potential candidates in order to find a suitable receptor to bind the pesticide heptachlor. In particular, this search is being carried out by molecular docking calculations coupled to fluorescence and electrochemical measurements.