Understanding interactions between minerals and small biopolymers under extreme conditions

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This project combines computational screening and wet-lab experiments to develop a comprehensive understanding of the interactions between silicate minerals and small biologically-relevant molecules,such as amino acids, peptides, peptoids and proteins. Our goal is to study the stability of these organic molecules and their mineral-enabled adaptability to environmental conditions. We will focus onsampling the effects of salinity, ion compositions and pH at the extremes of environmental conditions. The project is data-driven, where the statistics obtained from molecular simulations will be used toguide the experimental studies. Such strategy allows us to establish a protocol where computational screening is used to sample mineral-bioorganic systems, informing and directing laboratory tests.