Domains of interest

My background is in biology (biochemistry and biophysics), with a marked interest for physical chemistry. Since I entered research, my work has focused on integral membrane proteins, with two major types of research:

Understanding the structure and function of some specific proteins, mainly:

• the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor;
• bacteriorhodopsin;
• the major proteolipid from myelin (PLP);
• cytochrome b₆f.

Developing general methods or concepts, applicable to most if not all integral mem­bra­ne pro­teins. In particular:

• understanding the mechanisms that determine the folding, assembly and stability of those membrane proteins whose transmembrane domain is made up of α-helices;

• exploring new methods of sequence analysis;
• developing novel chemical tools for handling and/or studying membrane proteins, in particular two families of surfactants, fluorinated surfactants and amphiphilic polymers ('amphipols').

My work currently focuses on developing amphipols and their applications.