The importance of hydration water on the structure and on the dynamics of bio-molecules; the understanding of the role of water at a molecular level in the mechanisms responsible for biocompatibility of biopolymer and proteins; the mechanisms of adaptation of biomolecules to extreme conditions; the smart design of degradable protein-polymer conjugates with bio-technological interested; the structure and function of the channels that decorates the cellular membrane and regulate all the functions of a cells, the conformational changes of non-canonical nanosequences of nucleic acids, are all interconnected topics whose understanding is at the base of a self-consistent description of biophysics nanomedicine and soft matter. Investigating motion, such as molecular transport and structural changes on a wide range of timescales, from picoseconds to milliseconds, is of pivotal importance to understand the nature and the values of the forces which determine the bio-molecular structure and allow to exert its biological functions, offer the possibility to artificially regulate them on demand, thus opening the way towards innovative technologies and therapeutic strategies.
The MSDB research focuses on a wide range of properties of biological systems such as the structure, the dynamics, the functionalities of bio-molecular systems from membranes to powders, from solutions to ordered and confined environments on the nanometric scale, from small hydrophobic and hydrophilic peptides to globular and membrane proteins, to macromolecular machineries, up to the whole cell.
Our research approach connects the fundamentals of specific biological field with that of applied science through biophysical and biochemical background and expertise with cutting edge experimental techniques (such as neutron, x-ray or broad band light scattering) and computational approaches (such as all-atoms classical ab initio, and hybrid simulations).
