Theme 3. Tools to monitor peptides self-assembly
and to image amyloids and beyond
Principal Investigator: Christelle Hureau
Axe 1. Ln-based complexes to detect amyloids and their formation
We investigate new imaging tools to monitor the assembly process of the Aβ peptide and of other amyloid-forming peptides and to detect amyloids and amyloids’ deposits. Two main detection modalities are used: luminescence and MRI
Axe 2. Lanmodulin-based imaging tools
Principal Investigator: Enrico Falcone
We aim to understand the peculiar coordination properties of a recently discovered protein, Lanmodulin (LanM), which is able to tightly bind 3 Ln(III) ions. In particular, our main goal is to investigate and harness the site-selective hetero-metallation of LanM binding sites.
Moreover, by means of chemical protein engineering, we aim at developing new-to-nature LanM scaffolds with enhanced thermodynamic and kinetic stability, as well as luminescent capacity, to enable its application as multimodal (luminescence/magnetic resonance) imaging agent.
