Research
Information thermodynamics
The informational role of biological polymers is not limited to carrying genetic information. Biological macromolecules take part in signalling and sensing, where information is carried in their conformation. Macromolecular conformations are in turn controlled by non equilibrium forces inside the cell. I use single-molecule experiments to explore the interplay between macromolecular conformation, thermodynamics and information.
Synthetic Biology and Directed evolution
Directed evolution, via iterative rounds of mutation and screening or selection, is a powerful tool to investigate evolutionary dynamics, and to evolve nucleic acids and proteins for research, diagnostic and therapeutic applications. I combine droplet microfluidics, synthetic biology and next generation sequencing to explore the evolutionary landscape of enzymes. These experiments can be used to screen large rational or mutagenic libraries for high-resolution sequence-to-function mapping or to develop enzymes of industiral interest.