National projects
Range:
Development of new antibiotics simultaneously targeting beta-lactamases and penicillin-binding proteins
β-Lactam antibiotics remain the single most important antibiotic class in use worldwide. The clinical longevity of β-lactams is threatened by bacterial resistance enzymes (i.e. β-lactamases, BL) that can inactivate them by hydrolysis. We face a growing resistance to Gram-positive and Gram-negative pathogens that cause infections in hospitals and the c...
Dynamic aspect of ligand-protein binding
A variety of processes essential to living organisms involve ligand-protein binding, where the ligands are switching proteins between different functional states. The atomic resolution structures of ligand-protein complexes provide the basis for the understanding of ligand-protein interactions. However, it is becoming obvious that dynamic processes are playing an im...
Dynamical model of a type II DNA topoisomerase biological nanomachine and design of catalytic inhibitors
Cancer is one of the leading causes of death. The complex nature of cancer depends on genetic predispositions and environmental influences and poses a major challenge for treatment, as the efficiency of treatment depends on the specific response of each cancer tissue to a particular drug. The exploration of novel molecules that provide an efficient means to combat c...
Evaluation of transient protein states
Despite recent advances in biophysical techniques and computational approaches for the investigation of biomolecular systems, the characterization of the dynamic equilibria of protein states remains a demanding challenge due to the elusive nature of the dynamic processes that regulate these equilibria. In particular, the sparsely populated, transient states are diff...
Smart probes for ex vivo assay-based early prediction of Alzheimer disease
Alzheimer disease is becoming one of the leading problems of modern medicine, affecting patients, their families and draining national health care budgets worldwide. According to predictions, in the near future, Alzheimer disease shall be inevitable for more than one third of the population aged over 65 years. Development of a reliable diagnostic tool for early diag...
Modular asymmetric total synthesis of bioactive multi-chiral natural products
Bioactive compounds featuring natural product-inspired three-dimensional molecular architectures exhibit higher rate of clinical success compared to synthetically less challenging flat aromatic drug candidates. Accessing such complex multi-chiral scaffolds is a daring task and is often precluded by the limitations of organic chemistry or avoided by medicinal chemist...