Long-range Electrodynamic Interactions between proteins (LINkS)
Dealing with cellular signaling modelling raises the fundamental question on which interactions efficiently and selectively guide molecular recognition and macromolecular assembly.
The scope of LINkS project, funded by Horizon 2020 Future and Emerging Technologies-open, is to unveil long-range electrodynamic interactions (LEDIs) between biomolecules as a possible mechanism which sustains molecular signaling in cells. From the technological point of view the project aims at developing a THz biosensor for LEDIs detection in the real complexity of biological systems.
In the Long-term, the LINkS project is expected to help in shedding some light on how electromagnetic fields impact living organisms and assist in drug discovery and biomarkers identification. To achieve the above goals LINkS consortium gathers interdisciplinary expertise including theoretical/computational biophysics, cell biology, nanotechnology and microfluidic engineering.
Differently from (quasi-) electrostatic interactions (chemical- and hydrogen-bonds, bare Coulomb, Van-der-Waals London forces, etc), active at distances typically shorter than ~10 Å due to Debye screening, LEDIs would be effective up to ~1000 Å, thus representing an efficient way to guide attractive and selective recruitment of molecular partners [1].
People involved
Dr. Vania Calandrini
Group leader
Project Partners
- Marco Pettini (Centre de Physique Théorique, CNRS & Aix-Marseille University, France)
- Jeremie Torres (Institut d’Electronique et des Systèmes, CNRS & Montpellier University, France)
- Sandra Ruffenach (Laboratoire Charles Coulomb, CNRS, France)
- Didier Marguet (Centre d’Immunologie de Marseille Luminy, CNRS, France)
- Gergely Katona (University of Gothenburg, Sweden)
- Micronit Micro Technologies B.V. (Enschede, The Netherlands)
- Terakalis (Montpellier, France)