PhD Project ESR7
Development of inhibitors of α-Synuclein aggregation
SUPERVISORS
Prof. Sandrine Ongeri, UPSaclay University
Prof. Roland Brandt, University of Osnabrück (secondment)
INVOLVED UNIVERSITIES
UPSaclay University
INVOLED COMPANY
PhD COURSES
Therapeutic Innovation (UPSaclay University)
Biosciences (UOS)
OBJECTIVES
Design, synthesis, biophysical and biochemical evaluation of peptides and peptidomimetics as ligands of α-Synuclein in order to modulate its aggregation.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT
The Early Stage researcher (ESR) will synthesize mimics of β-strands and β-hairpins bearing specific sequences selected from α-Synuclein and involved in the aggregation. He/She will be involved in the synthesis of unnatural scaffolds, i.e. non-natural AAs and/or turn mimics (some of them will be fluorinated and/or fluorescent), according to the results of the computational design. He/She will perform conformational studies using NMR techniques and will be involved in the biophysical and biochemical evaluations of the activity of compounds on α-Synuclein aggregation.
The ESR will be enrolled by the UPSaclay University under the supervision of Prof. Sandrine Ongeri and will be awarded a Double Doctorate degree in co-tutelle with the University of Osnabrück (https://uni-osnabrueck.de/en/home/), Germany, under the supervision of Prof. Roland Brandt.
The research will involve 12 months secondments at the University of Osnabrück (biochemical evaluation of the ability of the prepared compounds by ESRs 6 and 7 to inhibit Tau and α-Synuclein aggregation; RT-QuIC, TEM) and 3 months secondments in Management and quality assurance at Flamma (https://www.flammagroup.com/) under the supervision of Dr. Roberto Fanelli.
The selected candidate will participate in the network’s training activities.