My current projects revolve around non-globular proteins (NGPs) phenomena, with a specific focus on repeat proteins. This widespread class of NGPs, constituted by evolutionarily related modules occurring in tandem, is characterized by repetitive sequences and its most typical structural arrangement is a three-dimensional modular architecture, where each repeated stretch constitutes a sort of basic building block, called unit. Repeated regions are present in all taxonomic kingdoms, but prevalent in eukaryotes accounting for about 50% of the proteome. In mammals in particular, their distribution and association to several pathways suggests a role intra- and inter-cellular communication. My project TRELIS aims at (1) the first systematic analysis of coevolution and structural interactions within repeat arrays and with binders, (2) the development of a pipeline to support repeat protein design and (3) the encoding of all project data and software into open-access FAIR resources. The emergent goal of the project is to support tandem repeats biotechnological applications through a standardisation of the available data. My research topics include biological phenomena which overlap with tandem repeat proteins and fall in the broader category of NGPs. These include disordered regions in proteins, characterized by high flexibility and conformational diversity; low complexity sequences, regions with fewer amino acid types compared to the average composition of natural sequences; the phenomenon of protein aggregation, either functional or dysfunctional
