Microbial Stress Lab
The PI - Sofia Pauleta, Ph.D.
I am an Assistant Professor in FCT-UNL, and a member of the research unit UCIBIO.
My research is focused on the structural and mechanistic studies of metalloenzymes isolated from Paracoccus pantotrophus, Marinobacter hydrocarbonoclasticus and from sulphate reducing bacteria of the genus Desulfovibrio. A more recent research area is the microbial stress response to oxidative stress and metal ions.
Main interests include physical biochemistry and structural biology (NMR) of electron transfer proteins and enzymes, as well as, other metalloproteins. Expertise in multitude of biophysical (ITC and analytical ultracentrifugation) and spectroscopic techniques (UV-vis, Raman, Fluorescence, CD and NMR). NMR expertise include solution structure determination of proteins using heteronuclear experiments (and the used of 13C-direct detection experiments) and the study of protein-protein interactions and more recently protein-DNA interactions.
- Structural and mechanistic studies of metalloenzymes and electron transfer complexes using different biochemical and biophysical techniques (cytochrome c peroxidase and superoxide reductase and its redox partners, pseudoazurin, cytochrome c550, and rubredoxin, respectively, and more recently nitrous oxide reductase).
- Solution structure determination using NMR. Use of NMR to characterize the dynamics of proteins in solution using the analysis of 15N relaxation data (R1, R2 and NOE): study of novel molybdenum cofactor containing proteins.
- Proteomics and gene expression profile constitute a recent additional area of interest applied to the study of microbial stress response to metals (Cu, Co, Ag) and to oxidative stress.
