Developing new disease therapies through molecular understanding
As Canada Research Chair in Structural Biology and Biophysics, Dr. Jörg Stetefeld is working toward a molecular understanding of the structure-property relationships of extracellular proteins involved in the formation of dynamic high-order signalling complexes related to human disease. He is also examining the establishment of unique S-layer assemblies from extremophilic archea.
This research aims to improve our understanding of signal complex formation and the mechanistic assembly of extracellular S-layer structures with great stability. This is essential for the development of structure-based applications in the fields of biomedicine and biotechnology.
Stetefeld will apply new molecular understanding about signalling complex formation and extracellular S-layer systems to develop drugs to treat human diseases, including various types of cancer, and to design artificial protein assemblies.
In addition, he will continue to develop an integrated research program combining high-resolution structural biology techniques, with various biophysical and functional approaches.