'Supramolecular Chemistry for Chemical and Synthetic Biology (Penetrating Peptides and Cytoskeleton)'

Abstract

The fabrication of functional molecular devices constitutes one of the most important current challenges for chemical sciences. The complex processes accomplished by living systems continuously demand the assistance of non-covalent interactions between molecular building blocks. Additionally, these building blocks (proteins, membranes, nucleotides) are also constituted by self-assembled structures. Therefore, supramolecular chemistry is the discipline required to understand the properties of the minimal self-assembled building blocks of living systems and to develop new functional smart materials. We are interested in the preparation of supramolecular membrane transporters for the delivery of nucleotides (plasmid, siRNA, mRNA, etc) and proteins for CRISPR genome edition (Cas9). We have recently started a research program towards the application of peptide nanotubes in confined spaces as cytoskeleton mimics. This exciting research allow us to learn, understand and manipulate supramolecular functional assemblies with biological applications. Chemical Communications, 2017, 53, 7861- 7871.

Biography

Javier Montenegro received his master degree (2003) and PhD (2009) from the University of Santiago de Compostela, under the direction of Prof. Susana López, working in the field of synthetic retinoids. In 2005 he was a visiting scientist in the group of Prof. Steven Ley at Cambridge University (Total Synthesis). In 2007 he was a visiting scientist at the Scripps Research Institute (La Jolla) working with Prof. Reza M. Ghadiri in prebiotic chemistry and supramolecular dynamic polymers. In 2009 he moved to the University of Geneva for postdoctoral studies with Prof. Stefan Matile in biosensing, synthetic transport systems and controlled delivery. In 2012 he returned to Spain as a Juan de la Cierva fellow to work at the CIQUS associated with Prof. Juan R. Granja. He obtained a Ramon y Cajal contract at the Organic Chemistry Department and the CIQUS in the University of Santiago de Compostela. In 2015 he was awarded with a Starting Grant from the ERC and in 2017 with a Young Investigator Grant of the Human Frontier Science Program.