Our research group employs experimental and computational tools to explore the protein sequence-structure-dynamics-function relationships in proteins and enzymes of biomedical and biotechnological interests. Our laboratory is located at the Institute for Biological and Medical Engineering (IIBM) from P. Universidad Católica de Chile, and we are also members of the Millenium Institute of Integrative Biology (iBio).

Our research is mainly funded by the National Agency for Research and Development of Chile (ANID) and focuses on:

1. Elucidating the mechanism of structural interconversion of metamorphic proteins involved in bacterial infections (virulence factor RfaH), circadian cycles (cyanobacterial protein KaiB) and human diseases (P subfamily of Fox transcription factors) – FONDECYT 2020 Regular Grant 1201684.
2. Discovery, functional and structural characterization and engineering of metagenomic enzymes that degrade PET, a widely used plastic that accumulates as waste at similar rates to its production – ANID-FAPESP International Cooperation Grant 2019/13259-9.
3. Development, production and optimization of open-source kits (RT-PCR/RT-LAMP/RPA) based on public domain enzymes for the molecular detection of viral infections, such as COVID-19, for their potential use in diagnostics – ANID-CONCYTEC International Cooperation Grant covbio0012.

We are also one of the organizers of the Latin American conference Protein Biophysics at the End of the World.