HOST INSTITUTION
University of Florence (UNIFI), Italy
EMAIL ADDRESS
p.gonzalezgomez@unifi.it
SUPERVISOR
Prof. Cristina Nativi
BRIEF CV
Paula González Gómez graduated with a Degree in Chemistry from the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain, in 2023. She completed her final thesis under the supervision of Prof. Dr. José L. Segura, focusing on organic synthesis and the development of a new molecule with promising properties for use in organic solar cells. Following her graduation, she moved to the Basque Country, Spain, where she obtained a Master’s Degree in Synthetic and Industrial Chemistry from the University of the Basque Country in 2024. For her Master’s thesis, she worked in the group of Dr. Jesús Jiménez Barbero at CICBioGUNE, studying the binding properties of various heparan sulfates with different proteins using NMR spectroscopy and MD techniques. At the end of 2024, she joined ENSCC as a Doctoral Candidate, awarded one of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowships. This opportunity allowed her to relocate to Florence, Italy, where she is currently pursuing her research as a PhD student in Structural Biology at the Università degli Studi di Firenze.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Glycans are the main actors in a variety of physiological and pathological biologically relevant processes. Interfering with carbohydrate recognition processes using synthetic (artificial) receptors has potential application in therapies of diagnostic. The aims of this project are:
1) Collaborating to the development of new synthetic receptors for the biomimetic (non-covalent) recognition of biologically relevant carbohydrates
2) The development of new mono- and oligosaccharides, suitably funtionalized for their binding to platforms of different nature or for the introduction of tag for NMR studies.
The project will also include the binding properties of the saccharides/saccharidic platforms using spectroscopic techniques with particular reference to NMR and DC.
MAIN RESEARCH FIELD
Crabohydrate chemistry, synthetic chemistry.
