Student Researchers' Society Topics

Co-supervisor: Dr. BÖRZSEI, Rita Judit

Computational docking is an essential tool of drug design widely used by pharmaceutical companies. The project will focus on the prediction of structure and energy of drug-target interactions by computational docking. Both capabilities and limitations of the method will be investigated on a set of drug-target systems. The set will be assembled on the basis of common interest of the student and the supervisor.

Co-supervisor: Dr. ZSIDÓ, Balázs Zoltán

Epigenetics plays an important role in the pathomechanisms of various diseases. Modifications of histone proteins of the nucleosome, the “histone code” is fundamental in understanding of diseases with epigenetic background. In this project, we will study the effect of the modifications on structure and interactions of histones focusing on their role in disease pathomechanisms. Structural bioinformatics tools will be applied in our investigations.

Co-supervisor: Dr. BÖRZSEI, Rita Judit

Application of pharmacoinformatics tools is essential in modern drug design. The project will focus on the development of computational tools facilitating efficient discovery of potent drug candidates. The tools work with atomic resolution structures of (protein) targets and calculate the strength of drug-target interactions. Students interested in physical chemistry with programming and/or scripting skills (interest) are good candidates for participating in this project.

Co-supervisor: Dr. ZSIDÓ, Balázs Zoltán

Attacking the assembly of HIV capsid is promising strategy of fighting AIDS. Proteins of the viral capsid are good targets of drug design due to their low mutation rates. In the project, available assembly inhibitors will be collected and their mechanisms will be investigated by computational techniques. Based on the collected information and the uncovered mechanisms, new inhibitors will be also designed.

Co-supervisor: Dr. BÖRZSEI, Rita Judit

Signal transduction is a key to understanding pathomechamisms of various diseases. Signaling pathways are often based on the formation of complexes between protein partners. In many cases, experimental determination of atomic resolution structures of protein complexes (required by drug design) is difficult. In the present project, we will calculate the structure of such complexes using computational tools. We will also study their molecular dynamics to understand their role in signaling and provide starting information for drug development.

Co-supervisor: Dr. ZSIDÓ, Balázs Zoltán

GFR is an essential clinical parameter describing kidney function. The present topic involves a comparative literature survey of the methods of determination of GFR as creatinine clearance. In case we can find available literature and electronic healthcare records, we will apply statistical approaches to evaluate the significance of the state of art methods and will propose probable changes. Likewise, depending on the availability of data we will investigate the connection between physiological parameters (such as blood pressure) and GFR.

Co-supervisor: Dr. ZSIDÓ, Balázs Zoltán

Current drug repositioning possibilities are investigated via generation and evaluation of target-ligand complex structures. During the research work, up-to-date pharmacoinformatic methods are applied.

Co-supervisor: SZÉL, Viktor

Computational docking is an essential tool of drug design widely used by pharmaceutical companies. The project will focus on the prediction of structure and energy of drug-target interactions by computational docking. Both capabilities and limitations of the method will be investigated on a set of drug-target systems. The set will be assembled on the basis of common interest of the student and the supervisor.