Today, September 29th, CiQUS PhD student Cristina Penas Tallón has defended her Doctoral Thesis, entitled "Designed synthethic peptides for nucleic acid recognition and sensing". Her work has been supervised by Professors José Luis Mascareñas and Eugenio Vázquez Sentís.
The crucial role of nucleic acids as cornerstone in the transmission of genetic information, has led to the development of multiple synthetic systems – from small molecules to engineered transcription factors- whose nucleic acid binding properties can be modulated.
Moreover, the detection, localization, and cellular dynamic study of both DNA and RNA are becoming increasingly important to our basic understanding of the biological processes involved in gene expression. In this context, this thesis targets the development of strategies for nucleic acid recognition and sensing.