Sofia BadolatoPhD student

Biological energy conversion is catalyzed by membrane proteins that transport electrons from nutrition to oxygen while conserving the free energy as a proton-motive force (pmf) that powers the synthesis of ATP. Our electron transport chain is initiated by Complex I (CI) that, together with Complexes III and IV, transfers protons across the inner mitochondrial membrane. Being at the base of this fundamental process and highly conserved among species, Complex I molecular mechanism has been of great interest in the scientific community, being also involved in many mitochondrial diseases and other human conditions such as cardiac dysfunction, heart failure and autism among others.

In order to address the cellular energy conversion principles, the project aims to design and assemble an artificial respiratory chain in proteoliposomes. This will be achieved by using novel protein reconsitution methods and biophysical assays to quantitatively study the functional principles of respiratory CI under realistic cellular conditions. Molecular biology techniques are employed to study how disease- related mutations affect the biochemical activity and develop new tools for mechanistic biochemistry and synthetic biology.