More about the Programme
Scientific goals
It is the scientific goal of the Programme to shed light on the structures, mechanisms and functions of the transglutaminases. This family of enzymes is most interesting, because
- it catalyzes a unique reaction (crosslinking of lysine and glutamine side chains)
- it is involved in many pathological conditions, such as neurodegenerative diseases and cancer
- it has great potential for technical applications, some of which are already realised (food processing, biological glues, substitution therapy in blood coagulation defects)
In spite of these interesting properties, transglutaminases are still poorly understood. It is the goal of the Programme to change this situation through a multidisciplinary approach. Such an approach requires a multinational, truly European Programme, because the necessary, complete expertise is not available in any one country (except perhaps the U.S.). While the Italian and Hungarian laboratories working on certain aspects of transglutaminases have achieved a lot in the past few years, they lack certain techniques such as X-ray crystallography and are not able to correlate their functional findings with structure. It is therefore necessary to address this problem at the European level.
Scientific topics of the proposed programme
- Research Topic I: Characterization of transglutaminases
- Research Topic II: Identification and characterization of TGase substrates and inhibitors
- Research Topic III: Gene regulation and cell biology
- Research Topic IV: Applications of transglutaminases in biotechnology
Activities
- Workshops Call for applications Final deadline: 31 October 2005
- Travel grants Call for applications Final deadline: 7 October 2005
News / current status
The PCL Programme’s final conference took place during the 8th International Conference on Protein Crosslinking and Transglutaminases (PCL8): Go to Website
