Luis Felipe Santos Mendes

Assistant Professor at the "Sergio Mascarenhas" Biophysics and Structural Biology Group, at the São Carlos Institute of Physics, University of São Paulo (IFSC/USP). I obtained my Bachelor's degree in Biomolecular Physics from IFSC/USP (2011) and my Ph.D. in Physics Applied to Medicine and Biology from FFCLRP/USP (2018). During my Ph.D., I undertook international research internships at renowned institutions, including the Biomembrane Structure Unit at the University of Oxford (under the supervision of Prof. Anthony Watts), the Laboratory für Physikalische Chemie at ETH Zurich (with Prof. Gunnar Jeschke), and the Chemistry Department at North Carolina State University NCSU (guided by Prof. Alex I. Smirnov). My thesis was awarded by the Brazilian Physics Society as the best dissertation in Biological Physics for the 2017/2018 biennium.Following my Ph.D., I held postdoctoral research positions at the BioNMR group in the Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences at ETH Zurich (20222023) and at the Physics Department of FFCLRP/USP (20192021). My current research focuses on the functional mechanisms of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) and hybrid proteins containing ordered and disordered regions (IDPRs). Our group investigates these proteins in their native, biomolecular condensate, and amyloid states, applying a broad range of biophysical and biochemical methods to elucidate their roles in physiological and pathological contexts.Our team has extensive expertise in classical molecular biology techniques, including cloning, subcloning, mutant construction, and the expression and purification of soluble and membrane-bound heterologous proteins (using E. coli and yeast systems). Additionally, we routinely apply advanced biophysical methods, such as Circular Dichroism (conventional and synchrotron radiation-based), Fluorescence Spectroscopy (steady-state and lifetime), Confocal Microscopy, Magnetic Resonance (Electron Paramagnetic Resonance EPR, and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance NMR), Fluorimetry, Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSF and DSC), Microscale Thermophoresis, and SEC-MALS.Further information regarding our infrastructure, team, and research projects is available at https://mendeslab.com.br or via email: luis.felipe.mendes@usp.br. (Source: Lattes Curriculum)