Bio
Giuseppe Melacini is the Director of the Chemical Biology Graduate Program at McMaster University. He is also a Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and a joint member of the Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences. One of the main research programs in Giuseppe’s lab, the Melacini Research Group (MRG), focuses on the molecular pharmacology of aging-induced neurodegeneration. Aging induces oxidative stress and most neurodegenerative diseases are linked to the self-association of amyloid forming peptides and proteins. He and his team are investigating the mechanisms underlying the effect of oxidation on kinases and the mechanism of action of amyloid inhibitors. The MRG’s work on amyloid inhibitors focuses on the interactions between peptides, including the peptide linked to Alzheimer’s disease. Giuseppe and his team are now expanding this work to other intrinsically disordered proteins linked to neurodegeneration, such as those associated with Parkinson’s disease.