Institute for Research in Biomedicine
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Institute for Research in Biomedicine
Via Vela, 6
6500 Bellinzona, Switzerland
Luca Varani graduated in chemistry at the University of Milan (Italy) and obtained a PhD degree at the prestigious MRC-Laboratory of Molecular Biology (University of Cambridge, UK) using molecular and structural biology to study RNA-protein interactions. He contributed to show the key role played by RNA in regulation of gene expression and how RNA itself can be a valid therapeutic target against dementia. His numerous high caliber publications, culminated in the determination of the largest NMR structure available at the time, allowed him to move to Stanford with a “long term EMBO fellowship”, reserved to the best young molecular biologists in Europe. In California Luca Varani completed the first magnetic resonance study on TCR/pMHC, key proteins of the immune system.
Since October 2007 he leads the Structural Biology group of the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (Bellinzona, CH). The main activity involves the characterization of interactions between pathogens and antibodies, molecules of the immune system capable of curing and protecting from illness. The group tries to understand the molecular properties that allow a given antibody to eliminate a pathogen. Studies involve mainly rare and neglected diseases such as Dengue or Zika virus, Prion or rare form of Leukemias. The NMR approach developed at Stanford was pushed forward at the IRB, where computational techniques allow discovering which part of the pathogen is recognized by antibodies. Experimentally guided and validated computational simulations yield the atomic three-dimensional structure of antibody/pathogen complexes. The approach allowed to rationally modify an existing antibody, increasing its ability to neutralize Dengue virus by 50 fold utilizing, for the first time, only computational tools. They also performed one of the rare NMR studies showing how antibody binding alter the local flexibility of the antigen.
The group uses a highly multidisciplinary approach, varying from structure determination to cellular experiments, from computational biology to protein and antibody production and engineering, from synthesis of nanoparticles to confocal microscopy.
Via Vincenzo Vela 6
6500 Bellinzona, Switzerland
Tel. +41 91 820 0300
Fax +41 91 820 0302
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