Publications by authors named "Alice Triveri"

The disruptive impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has led the scientific community to undertake an unprecedented effort to characterize viral infection mechanisms. Among these, interactions between the viral glycosylated Spike and the human receptors ACE2 and TMPRSS2 are key to allowing virus invasion. Here, we report and test a fully rational methodology to design molecules that are capable of perturbing the interactions between these critical players in SARS-CoV-2 pathogenicity.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

SARS-CoV-2 has evolved rapidly in the first 3 years of pandemic diffusion. The initial evolution of the virus appeared to proceed through big jumps in sequence changes rather than through the stepwise accumulation of point mutations on already established variants. Here, we examine whether this nonlinear mutational process reverberates in variations of the conformational dynamics of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein (S-protein), the first point of contact between the virus and the human host.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

To develop efficient anticancer theranostic systems, we studied the interaction between a cyanine dye, analogue of thiazole orange (named CyOH), and two G-quadruplex-forming aptamers, V7t1 and 3R02, recognizing the Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor 165 (VEGF) - an angiogenic protein overexpressed in cancer cells, responsible for the rapid growth and metastases of solid tumours. We demonstrated, by exploiting different biophysical techniques - i.e.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Herein we examine the determinants of the allosteric inhibition of the mitochondrial chaperone TRAP1 by a small molecule ligand. The knowledge generated is harnessed into the design of novel derivatives with interesting biological properties. TRAP1 is a member of the Hsp90 family of proteins, which work through sequential steps of ATP processing coupled to client-protein remodeling.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Glioblastoma multiforme is a malignant primary brain tumor with a poor prognosis and high rates of chemo-radiotherapy failure, mainly due to a small cell fraction with stem-like properties (GSCs). The mechanisms underlying GSC response to radiation need to be elucidated to enhance sensitivity to treatments and to develop new therapeutic strategies. In a previous study, two GSC lines, named line #1 and line #83, responded differently to carbon ions and photon beams, with the differences likely attributable to their own different metabolic fingerprint rather than to radiation type.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Computational chemistry is now essential in drug discovery, with many pharmaceutical projects relying heavily on computer-generated data.
  • The text covers advanced simulation techniques for challenges like understanding allosteric mechanisms, studying ligand binding, and assessing drug-target affinities.
  • It also explores various strategies for addressing difficult biological targets and offers insights into the future of computational methods in drug development.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • * Researchers conducted molecular dynamics simulations on different spike protein variants to predict how mutations affect regions that antibodies recognize, finding that changes correlate with reduced antibody effectiveness.
  • * The study's computational approach can be used beyond SARS-CoV-2 to analyze other proteins, aiding in the development of vaccines and treatments for emerging variants.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • * Many pathogenic proteins are potential drug targets, but some are considered "undruggable," necessitating innovative approaches to intervene in their function.
  • * The paper focuses on new chemical strategies to reduce the levels of these undruggable proteins by manipulating their expression and disrupting their interactions, while also discussing the importance of computational tools in designing these interventions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

SARS-CoV-2 is a health threat with dire socioeconomical consequences. As the crucial mediator of infection, the viral glycosylated spike protein (S) has attracted the most attention and is at the center of efforts to develop therapeutics and diagnostics. Herein, we use an original decomposition approach to identify energetically uncoupled substructures as antibody binding sites on the fully glycosylated S.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A PHP Error was encountered

Severity: Notice

Message: fwrite(): Write of 34 bytes failed with errno=28 No space left on device

Filename: drivers/Session_files_driver.php

Line Number: 272

Backtrace:

A PHP Error was encountered

Severity: Warning

Message: session_write_close(): Failed to write session data using user defined save handler. (session.save_path: /var/lib/php/sessions)

Filename: Unknown

Line Number: 0

Backtrace: