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Personal Profile

Nicola Porta
Institute for Computational Pharmaceutical Chemistry
http://cpclab.uni-duesseldorf.de/ Building: 26.23
Floor/Room: 00.30
+49 211 81-12532



 

Research Interests:

Medicinal Chemistry background. Scientific interest towards topics related to Drug Design, Computational Chemistry and Molecular Simulations.

Antimicrobial resistance is the ability of microbes to grow in the presence of a chemical (drug) that would normally kill it or limit its growth. The main goal of my research is to understand at the structural level (atomistic) the mechanisms leading to antimicrobial resistance. Taking advantage of computational methods (e.g. molecular dynamics simulations and modeling) is possible to investigate processes that are important to explain how a drug works (or does not) interacting with its macromolecular target, and what is the impact of this interaction on the macromolecule´s “shape” and function. The final objective would be to identify and design better antimicrobial drugs. Currently I´m focusing on new Pyruvate Kinase inhibitors as potential weapons against the “super bug” MRSA (Methicillin-resistant S. aureus) and some polycyclic peptide antibiotics called Lantibiotics.

Research Career and International Experience:

  • Fellowship Holder, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri, IRFMN (Milano – Italy) Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Environmental Chemistry and Toxicology.
  • Lab Technician and Scientific Assistant, Eco-Research s.r.l. (Bolzano – Italy).
  • MSc in Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Techniques (CTF, Chimica e Tecnologia Farmaceutiche), University of Padova – Italy.

Personal Interests:

I like to watch movies and series, bike riding and travelling.

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