We are a research team focusing on Molecular Medicine & Metabolic Engineering (MM&ME). 

      Our main goal is combining computational and experimental methods to understand the structure, function, and regulation of proteins, aiming to develop drugs, molecular tools, and valuable products. We currently work on the following three aspects:

      1. Protein-protein interaction network dynamics and modulation: We want to study how protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks (modules) are sustained by protein-protein interaction. Using the polyamine metabolism network as a model, we want to understand how PPI affects polyamine homeostasis.

      2. Drug discovery: We developed the covalent drug discovery protocol SCARdock, the first protocol for discovering covalent ligands based on non-covalent docking. We want to improve the efficiency and expand the application of this protocol. For example, we want to use SCARdock to discover novel covalent ligands targeting undruggable proteins, acting as inhibitors, molecular glues, or PROTACs.

      3. Protein design: We want to study protein function by the design of protein structure, function, affinity, and orthogonality. On one side, we want to design functional proteins such as industrial enzymes. On the other side, we are interested in understanding how PPI could be targeted for functional protein design.