Prof. Dganit Danino
Our team seeks to unfold principles dictating the nanostructure, function and properties of soft molecular assemblies. These are important for understanding mechanisms of biological processes as well as for the development of new functional materials. We use and develop advanced cryogenic electron microscopy techniques (CryoEM) to analyze the often ‘invisible’ morphology and local interactions, and to follow kinetics of soft, self-organizing systems.
Current main research topics include:
(1) Design and development of lipid and protein nanostructured carriers, for potential application in drug delivery and nanomedicine.
(2) Structure-function studies of membrane-remodeling proteins that mediate membrane fission and fusion, or display antiviral activity. These are important for understanding fundamental biological processes and can lead to the development of new therapies.
(3) Mechanistic studies of one-dimensional chiral self-assembly into ribbons and nanotubes, which find applications in medicine and nanotechnology.
(4) Fundamental thermodynamic and structural research of micellar self-assembly of natural and tailored molecules.
Link to lab website: https://dganitdanino.net.technion.ac.il/
