ESR 5: Federica Carucci

X-­Ray crystal structure determination of Neurotrophin Receptors in complex with small molecules to drive receptor-­based drug design.

EuroNeurotrophin Research
To clarify structural determinants for ligand binding to Neurotrophin Receptors (NTRs), Federica will develop a purification protocol for a milligram scale production of Neurotrophin Receptors (NTRs) and obtain pure crystals of target NTRs in complex with both neurotrophins and compounds produced by ESR1‐2. Crystal structures of the complexes will be determined by X-­ray crystallography, allowing optimization of NTRs ligands.

Host
B3: University of Siena, Department of Biotechnology, Chemistry and Pharmacy, Italy

Supervisor
Prof. Stefano Mangani, University of Siena

Scientific Background
Federica completed a master degree in Biochemistry with specialization in Protein chemistry at the University of Copenhagen. During her master thesis project, Federica joined the Structural Biology and NMR laboratory, where she improved her technical abilities, learning refolding techniques and purification methods, as well as CD spectroscopy and
NMR spectroscopy.