Department of Biomedical Chemistry_EJ

Our research group focuses on diseases related to the aggregation of polypeptides and proteins. We study the aggregation process itself using fluorescence and electrophoretic methods, size-exclusion chromatography, and LC-MS coupled with enzymatic digestion. We are also deeply involved in the search for aggregation inhibitors as well as in studying the role that the 20S proteasome, stimulated by the activators we design, may play in removing toxic soluble oligomers. We evaluate the activation capacity of the modulators both in vitro, using the proteasome isolated from human erythrocytes, and in cells transfected with plasmids encoding aggregation-prone proteins.