Raffaella Paparcone

Postdoctoral Associate

raffy_1@mit.edu
Office: 1-170
Phone number: 617-253-3528

Research Focus

My main interest is the analysis of the formation, behavior and in particular mechanical failure and fracture of amyloid fibers. These beta-sheet rich protein structures, which form pathogens in diseases (Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s), combine very interesting properties like exceptional strength and sturdiness, elasticity and bioactivity. Understanding the fundamental reasons of their formation and defining their mechanical properties will facilitate the development of new nanomaterials and of robust and adaptable structures in particular for Navy applications. Computer simulations and experimental studies have already revealed key aspects of the thermodynamical stability of amyloid structures but they were only focused on atomistic scales, without explicitly considering the multi-scale hierarchical features of amyloid fibrils. My main goal consists in closing this gap by linking the multi-scale structural features to their overall properties.

Education

Present:		Postdoctoral Associate, MIT
2007 - 2008:		Postdoctoral Associate, Technische Universitaet Darmstadt, Germany
2005-2006:		Bioinformatic Scientist, Ylichron srl, Rome (Italy)

Awards

N/A

Publications and Presentations

R. Paparcone, R. Kniep and J. Brickmann , "Hierarchical pattern of microfibrils in a 3D-fluoroapatite-gelatine-nano-composite: simulation of a bio-related structure building process", PCCP, (submitted).
R. Paparcone, D. Zahn, P.Simon, R. Kniep and J. Brickmann , "On the fibrils density in fluoroapatite-collagene nanocomposites". (in preparation).
R. Casilli, A. Marongiu, P. Palazzari, S. Melchionna, R. Paparcone and V. Rosato "IMAGE: a new tool for the prediction of transcription factors binding sites", Bioinformatics and Biology Insights. (in press).
C. Arcangeli, C. Cantale, P. Galeffi, G. Gianese, R. Paparcone and V. Rosato, "Understanding structural/functional properties of immunoconjugates for cancer therapy by computational approach", Jour. Biomol. Struct. Dyn. Vol. 26, paper number 1, 2008.
R. Paparcone, S. Morosetti, A. Scipioni and P. De Santis , "A statistical approach for analyzing structural and regulative information in prokaryotic genomes", Biophys. Chem., Vol. 120, paper number 1, 2006.
C. Anselmi, P. De Santis, R. Paparcone, M. Savino and A. Scipioni,"A possible role of DNA superstructures in genome evolution", Origins Life Evol. B., Vol. 34, paper number 2, 2004.
C. Anselmi, P. De Santis, R. Paparcone, M. Savino and A. Scipioni, "From the sequence to the superstructural properties of DNAs.", Biophys. Chem., Vol. 95, paper number 1, 2002.
N. Besker, C. Anselmi, R. Paparcone, A. Scipioni, M. Savino and P. De Santis, "Systematic search for compact structures of telomeric nucleosomes.", FEBS Lett, Vol. 3, paper number 554, 2003.
P. De Santis, R. Paparcone, M. Savino and A. Scipioni, "Mechanical properties of single molecules: a theoretical approach" in Scanning Probe Microscopies beyond imaging. (P. Samori) 508 - 533 Wiley-VHC, 2006.

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