Evolutionary Protein Design

Basic data for this project

Description

Proteins have been the most important and diverse building blocks of all forms of life for billions of years. Evolution has produced myriads of proteins with different structures and functions, but so far science has had only limited success at designing custom-made proteins equipped with special characteristics. In the topical program "Evolutionary Protein Design", researchers aim to apply and refine innovative methods for designing proteins with desired functions. To this end, the project will use traditional laboratory methods as well as cutting-edge high through-put technologies, aided by computer simulations and theoretical modelling. In addition to established model proteins, researchers will also study new proteins and protein functions. They will draw upon discoveries in protein evolution, based on enormous amounts of data generated from newly sequenced genomes. In this way, researchers hope to better understand the fundamental relationships between the thermal stability of proteins, their structural and functional resistance to mutation, and their multifunctionality. The project comprises research groups from the Faculty of Biology and the Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy at the University of Münster in cooperation with colleagues from Bayreuth, Regensburg and Greifswald.