general	prion	malaria
data mining	evolution	genomics	structure

GENERAL

Our research involves the protein folding problem. Simply stated, we wish to predict features of the three dimensional structure of a protein from looking at the primary amino acid sequence. As the properties of a protein are determined by its structure, accurate predictions of structural aspects help researchers to control the function of the protein, e.g. through drugs designed with the help of computer models. Our tools are mathematical models, high speed computers, computer graphics, and artificial intelligence computer languages.

We are currently working in three general directions: studying and predicting various aspects of the three-dimensional structures of proteins using multiple sequence alignments; designing drugs to inhibit proteases that play a role in diseases such as malaria or prostrate cancer; and modelling and designing "peptoids", a new class of synthetic heteropolymers, opening up new possibilities in drug discovery. As part of our efforts in protein structure prediction, ongoing research on the prion protein in our group has contributed to a better understanding of what causes scrapie and related human diseases.

In addition, we are working on data and text mining to retrieve and integrate heterogeneous information on protein families of pharmaceutical importance.