Institute of Experimental Physics
Topic
Amyloid Paradigm: From Pathological Structures to Functional Bionanomaterials
PhD. program
Biophysics
Name of the supervisor
RNDr., Ing. Katarína Šipošová, PhD.
Contact:
Receiving school
Faculty of Science, P.J. Safarik University
Annotation
Amyloids represent a class of robust, highly ordered structures that can be formed by many natural or artificially designed peptides and proteins. Traditionally, amyloids are linked with neurodegeneration and numerous other diseases, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's diseases, and spongiform encephalopathies. On the other hand, many living organisms make use of diverse amyloid proteins as functional building blocks to fulfill a variety of physiological applications. This fact, along with the intrinsic self-assembly and outstanding material properties of amyloids, has prompted significant research in the synthetic design of functional amyloids to form diverse nanoarchitecture, molecular materials, and hybrid or composite materials.
Within the doctoral research, the implication of oxidative stress and apoptosis in amyloid aggregation will be examined, i.e., the study of the structural and functional consequences of the interaction of protein/protein amyloid structures with various types of substances, including multifunctional composites, will be conducted. The second goal will be the preparation of multifunctional bioconjugates based on functional amyloid proteins, which can be used for binding and release of biologically active agents, formation of multiple protein arrangements for efficient enzymatic cascades, or even as the promising carriers for targeted drug delivery with controllable release.
Within the doctoral research, the implication of oxidative stress and apoptosis in amyloid aggregation will be examined, i.e., the study of the structural and functional consequences of the interaction of protein/protein amyloid structures with various types of substances, including multifunctional composites, will be conducted. The second goal will be the preparation of multifunctional bioconjugates based on functional amyloid proteins, which can be used for binding and release of biologically active agents, formation of multiple protein arrangements for efficient enzymatic cascades, or even as the promising carriers for targeted drug delivery with controllable release.