Ana M. Azevedo
Research Scientist
Background
Post-Doctorate, BERG, IST, 2004 - 2008
PhD in Biotechnology, IST, 2004
M. Sc. in Biotechnology
(Biochemical Engineering), IST, 1999
Graduation in Chemical Engineering, IST, 1996
Research Activities
Structural stability is a key issue in many biotechnological applications of proteins. Interactions between proteins and components of the surrounding environment can lead to changes at the molecular level which have a direct impact in protein bioactivity. This may be crucial in the downstream processing, formulation and storage of therapeutic proteins or during the course of an enzyme catalyzed biotransformation. One of the main focuses of my research is hence to study stabilization or denaturation phenomena associated with the protein environment, by analyzing changes in protein structure with spectroscopic studies like fluorescence and circular dichroism. I am also interested in the design of alternative purification processes for monoclonal antibodies and other biopharmaceutical.