Alessandra Astegno
Associate Professor
Department of Biotechnology
University of Vermont
Italy
Biography
Dr. Alessandra Astegno is currently working as a Associate Professor in the Department of Department of Biotechnology, University of Verona , Italy. His research interests includes Dr. A. Astegno is interested in many aspects of protein chemistry, including folding, evolution and structure-function relationship of proteins and macromolecular assemblies. In particular, she has a solid background in recombinant protein expression and purification, functional and structural characterization of PLP-dependent enzymes as well as metallo-proteins. PLP dependent enzymes have been studied in both pathogens as possible targets for the design and development of therapeutic agents (CS lyase from Corynebacterium diphtheriae and ornithine aminotransferase from Toxoplasma gondii) and higher plants (glutamic acid decarboxylase from Arabidopsis thaliana) as an example of specialization during phylogenetic evolution when the kingdoms diverged. More recently, the work of Dr. Astegno focused on the study of calcium signaling in higher plants through biochemical and biophysical characterization of calcium sensor proteins, such as calmodulin 1 of Arabidopsis thaliana. Dr. Astegno also participated in the structural and functional characterization of non-symbiotic hemoglobins of higher plants (AHb1 and AHb2 of Arabidopsis thaliana) in order to correlate their chemical reactivity to physiological function. The functional and structural properties of proteins are investigated by using biophysical, biochemical and molecular biology techniques: ï‚· kinetic studies (steady state and pre-steady state kinetics); ï‚· reaction mechanism studies (substrate specificity, chemical modification and site-directed mutagenesis); ï‚· protein-protein and protein-ion interactions (isothermal titration calorimetry, fluorescence and absorption spectroscopy, circular dichroism, dynamic light scattering); ï‚· cofactor reactivity and protein stability on heating and denaturing agents (differential scanning calorimetry, limited proteolysis); ï‚· protein engineering; ï‚· structural studies (size exclusion chromatography, native page). Dr. Astegno has taken part in many national and international meetings, where she has presented the results of her work. . He /she is serving as an editorial member and reviewer of several international reputed journals. Dr. Alessandra Astegno is the member of many international affiliations. He/ She has successfully completed his Administrative responsibilities. He /she has authored of many research articles/books related to Dr. A. Astegno is interested in many aspects of protein chemistry, including folding, evolution and structure-function relationship of proteins and macromolecular assemblies. In particular, she has a solid background in recombinant protein expression and purification, functional and structural characterization of PLP-dependent enzymes as well as metallo-proteins. PLP dependent enzymes have been studied in both pathogens as possible targets for the design and development of therapeutic agents (CS lyase from Corynebacterium diphtheriae and ornithine aminotransferase from Toxoplasma gondii) and higher plants (glutamic acid decarboxylase from Arabidopsis thaliana) as an example of specialization during phylogenetic evolution when the kingdoms diverged. More recently, the work of Dr. Astegno focused on the study of calcium signaling in higher plants through biochemical and biophysical characterization of calcium sensor proteins, such as calmodulin 1 of Arabidopsis thaliana. Dr. Astegno also participated in the structural and functional characterization of non-symbiotic hemoglobins of higher plants (AHb1 and AHb2 of Arabidopsis thaliana) in order to correlate their chemical reactivity to physiological function. The functional and structural properties of proteins are investigated by using biophysical, biochemical and molecular biology techniques: ï‚· kinetic studies (steady state and pre-steady state kinetics); ï‚· reaction mechanism studies (substrate specificity, chemical modification and site-directed mutagenesis); ï‚· protein-protein and protein-ion interactions (isothermal titration calorimetry, fluorescence and absorption spectroscopy, circular dichroism, dynamic light scattering); ï‚· cofactor reactivity and protein stability on heating and denaturing agents (differential scanning calorimetry, limited proteolysis); ï‚· protein engineering; ï‚· structural studies (size exclusion chromatography, native page). Dr. Astegno has taken part in many national and international meetings, where she has presented the results of her work. .
Research Interest
Dr. A. Astegno is interested in many aspects of protein chemistry, including folding, evolution and structure-function relationship of proteins and macromolecular assemblies. In particular, she has a solid background in recombinant protein expression and purification, functional and structural characterization of PLP-dependent enzymes as well as metallo-proteins. PLP dependent enzymes have been studied in both pathogens as possible targets for the design and development of therapeutic agents (CS lyase from Corynebacterium diphtheriae and ornithine aminotransferase from Toxoplasma gondii) and higher plants (glutamic acid decarboxylase from Arabidopsis thaliana) as an example of specialization during phylogenetic evolution when the kingdoms diverged. More recently, the work of Dr. Astegno focused on the study of calcium signaling in higher plants through biochemical and biophysical characterization of calcium sensor proteins, such as calmodulin 1 of Arabidopsis thaliana. Dr. Astegno also participated in the structural and functional characterization of non-symbiotic hemoglobins of higher plants (AHb1 and AHb2 of Arabidopsis thaliana) in order to correlate their chemical reactivity to physiological function. The functional and structural properties of proteins are investigated by using biophysical, biochemical and molecular biology techniques: ï‚· kinetic studies (steady state and pre-steady state kinetics); ï‚· reaction mechanism studies (substrate specificity, chemical modification and site-directed mutagenesis); ï‚· protein-protein and protein-ion interactions (isothermal titration calorimetry, fluorescence and absorption spectroscopy, circular dichroism, dynamic light scattering); ï‚· cofactor reactivity and protein stability on heating and denaturing agents (differential scanning calorimetry, limited proteolysis); ï‚· protein engineering; ï‚· structural studies (size exclusion chromatography, native page). Dr. Astegno has taken part in many national and international meetings, where she has presented the results of her work.
Publications
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Cellini B, Montioli R, Oppici E, Astegno A, Voltattorni CB. The chaperone role of the pyridoxal 5′-phosphate and its implications for rare diseases involving B6-dependent enzymes. Clinical biochemistry. 2014 Feb 28;47(3):158-65.
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Pii Y, Astegno A, Peroni E, Zaccardelli M, Pandolfini T, Crimi M. The Medicago truncatula N5 gene encoding a root-specific lipid transfer protein is required for the symbiotic interaction with Sinorhizobium meliloti. Molecular plant-microbe interactions. 2009 Dec;22(12):1577-87.
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Gut H, Dominici P, Pilati S, Astegno A, Petoukhov MV, Svergun DI, Grütter MG, Capitani G. A common structural basis for pH-and calmodulin-mediated regulation in plant glutamate decarboxylase. Journal of molecular biology. 2009 Sep 18;392(2):334-51.
