Karoline Sanches

I have a bachelor’s degree in Biological Physics (2017) and Master of Science in Molecular Biophysics (2019) from UNESP/Brazil. Over these years, I have used biophysical techniques to understand the dynamical behaviour of proteins related to a range of cancers. For my PhD, I am studying membrane proteins involved in autoimmune and neuroinflammatory diseases. We aim to express ion channels in the ciliate Tetrahymena thermophila and explore the possibility of isotope labelling for atomic-level characterisation of channel structure and interactions. We are interested in the conformation and dynamics of peptide ligands for ion channels, and the implications for channel binding. The detailed characterisation of structural changes involved in these interactions will be pivotal in designing novel selective ion-channel blockers.