Andrea Bertarello

2016 06 03 CNRS -Andrea Bertarello picture 2I come from Italy, where I studied Chemistry at the University of Padua. My interest for NMR dates back to the beginning of my M. Sc. in Chemistry, when I discovered the basics principles of this fascinating and powerful technique. I decided then to study it deeply in my thesis project, under the supervision of Massimo Bellanda and Stefano Mammi. During the project I worked on protein liquid state NMR, using different techniques for structural and relaxation studies, and I worked also on expression and purification of proteins. After I obtained my degree in 2012 I worked for some months in the same laboratory, before I joined Guido Pintacuda’s group at CRMN CNRS, Lyon, France, where I started my Ph. D. as part of the pNMR project.

Home Country Italy
Project Topic Dynamics and reactivity at the core of a paramagnetic metalloprotein or in paramagnetically-tagged proteins
Project Description The aim of the project will be the exploration of structure and reactivity of metal centres in metalloproteins as well as in paramagnetically-tagged proteins. In particular, paramagnetic centres in CuII or CoII enzymes will be investigated, in order to calculate and refine the protein molecular structure, by coupling DFT calculation, MD simulations and NMR hyperfine observable as structure probes. The first candidate protein will be the human superoxide dismutase, loaded with CuII or CoII ions, for which some preliminary information is already available. This will then allow the exploration of the nature and reactivity of metal species at the core substrate binding and metal ion transport in large membrane-bound metalloenzymes. In parallel to the model system above, proteins containing Fe-S clusters, involved in some fundamental biochemical processes, will also be investigated.
Another aspect of the project will concern paramagnetic protein tagging, a tool for the determination of long-range paramagnetic effects by NMR, which can provide information on the conformation of a protein and on its intermolecular contacts in the solid phase. Protocols for paramagnetic tagging will be developed too.
The final goal of the project will be the development of new methods which could combine experimental and theoretical aspects in paramagnetic solid state NMR, in order to answer important questions on the structure and reactivity of proteins.
Project Home Centre de Résonance Magnétique Nucleaire à très hauts champs (CRMN), part of Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
Supervisor Guido Pintacuda
Starting Date November 2013
Publications
Meetings pNMR Applied Training Course, September 2013, Lyon, France
Title: Solid-state NMR of materials and proteins
Role: participant

pNMR Workshop, September 2013, Chamonix, France
Title: Multidisciplinary Workshop #1, joint with Bruker pre-Alpine Conference
Role: participant

EMBO Training Course, and SU Applied Training Course, July 2014, Florence, Italy
Title: Solution and Solid-state NMR of Paramagnetic Molecules
Role: participant
SU Applied Training Course, July 2014, Florence, Italy
Title: NMR Relaxation Theory
Role: participant
LEIDEN and ZoBIO Applied Training Course, August 2014, Leiden, the Netherlands
Title: Paramagnetic tagging for drug research
pNMR Workshop 2, September 2014, Cambridge, UK
Multidisciplinary Workshop #2
Title: “New Developments in Experimental and Theoretical Techniques for the Study of Paramagnetic Inorganic Materials”/span> Role: participant
pNMR Mid-Term Review Meeting, September 2014, Cambridge, UK
Role: participant
Complementary Skills Course, given by the RSC, September 2014, Cambridge, UK
Title: How to write, edit a scientific paper and get it published
Role: participant

pNMR Applied Training, June 2015, Berlin, Germany
Title: Introduction to practical pNMR shift calculations Role: participant
pNMR Complementary Skills Training, July 2015, Prague, CZ
Title: Personal Skills, conference presentation and Communication Role: participant
pNMR Workshop 3, July 2015,  Prague, CZ
Title: pNMR : from rags to riches, Challenges and potentials of NMR on paramagnetic molecules, Role: speaker
CIRMMP and GIOTTO Applied Training, May 2016
Title: Expression and purification of metalloproteins for structural studies and Paramagnetic restraints in hybrid methods for protein structural analysis, Role: participant
Secondments GIOTTO July-August 2014, Florence; ZoBio, May-July 2015, Leiden, Netherlands; TU Berlin, Sept-November 2015, Berlin, Germany.