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Universidade do Porto – CEMUP

 

CEMUP – Centro de Materiais da Universidade do Porto
Universidade do Porto
Rua do Campo Alegre, 823
4150-180 Porto
Portugal
Tel: +351 220 408 250
Fax: +351 226 003 654
NMR Equipment
  • Bruker Ascend 600 MHz
  • Bruker Avance III 400 MHz
  • Bruker Ascend III 400 MHz
Unit Homepage

UPorto – CEMUP

Booking | Scheduling

lrmn@cemup.up.pt

 

Main Research Topics

  • Development, acquisition, interpretation and manual-fine tuning of NMR data related, but not limited to: (1) structural characterization of organic and inorganic compounds; (2) compositional profiling of complex mixtures; (3) quality control; (4) quantitative analyses; (5) purity determination; (6) molecular dynamics and kinetic monitoring of reactions;

 

  • Provide in-house researchers, graduate, post-graduate students and external users with access to know-how, technology, and state-of-the-art infrastructure for the study of biological macromolecules and their complexes in complex media, molecular interactions and ligand recognition events in a wide range of chemical and biochemical systems;

 

  • Expand the development and application of novel NMR methods to:
    1. Disclosure the molecular mechanisms driving immunoreactive peptide binding, uptake and dynamic behavior on intestinal epithelial membrane models of wheat, milk, peanut and egg-related food intolerances as well as their interaction within the intracellular milieu of disease-relevant cell models, with the purpose of inferring the physiochemical effects imposed by this crowded environment on the structure, dynamics and toxicity of isotopically-labelled proteins and peptides;
    2. Unravel the chemistry behind food astringency and bitterness perception, and ways of modulating these organoleptic sensations at the matrix compositional level – part of a recently ERC-funded project entitled “New Molecular and Cell-based Approaches to assess Food Astringency and Bitterness”; granted to Dra. Susana Soares from LAQV-REQUIMTE;
    3. Perform metabolomic profiling of biological fluids (blood, urine and saliva) for a more comprehensive and integrated understanding of the pathways by which diet interacts with the body to affect health and/or oral physiology at the individual and population level.

 

  • Support the rational design of molecules and (bio)materials with fine-tuned physicochemical properties and of innovative (and cleaner) synthetic routes with enhanced stereoselectivity and applicability in the field of biomedical, agricultural, environmental and food research;

 

  • Bring synergy towards the use of NMR spectroscopy and computational methods to probe energetics, structural rearrangements, and conformational fluctuations in allosteric systems, for bioengineering, de novo protein design and drug discovery purposes.

 

Selected Publications

  1. Figueiredo, Sandra AC, et al. “Discovery of Cyanobacterial Natural Products Containing Fatty Acid Residues.” Angewandte Chemie International Edition18 (2021): 10064-10072;
  2. Mesiti, Francesco, et al. “4-Oxoquinolines and monoamine oxidase: When tautomerism matters.” European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 213 (2021): 113183;
  3. Cruz, Luís, et al. “Dendrimers as Color-Stabilizers of Pyranoanthocyanins: The Dye Concentration Governs the Host–Guest Interaction Mechanisms.” ACS Applied Polymer Materials3 (2021): 1457-1464;
  4. Reis, João PA, et al. “BrtB is an O-alkylating enzyme that generates fatty acid-bartoloside esters.” Nature communications1 (2020): 1-9;
  5. Reis, Ana, et al. “Interaction of polyphenols with model membranes: Putative implications to mouthfeel perception.” Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA)-Biomembranes 2 (2020): 183133;
  6. Araújo, Marco, et al. “Coumarin-grafted blue-emitting fluorescent alginate as a potentially valuable tool for biomedical applications.” Journal of Materials Chemistry B4 (2020): 813-825;
  7. Fernandes, Ana, et al. “Molecular binding between anthocyanins and pectic polysaccharides–Unveiling the role of pectic polysaccharide’s structure.” Food Hydrocolloids 102 (2020): 105625;
  8. Dias, Ricardo, et al. “A multi-spectroscopic study on the interaction of food polyphenols with a bioactive gluten peptide: From chemistry to biological implications.” Food chemistry 299 (2019): 125051.