CIIMAR’s Oceanus Seminar with Raquel Castelo Branco | Boca da Baleia
Post-translational modifications are a major source of functional diversity in natural products, yet phosphorylation remains rare in secondary metabolism. In this seminar, I will present the discovery of an unexpected kinase domain embedded within cyanobactin macrocyclases and demonstrate how this single domain broadens the biosynthetic capabilities of cyanobacteria. These findings reveal new enzymatic logic in cyanobactin biosynthesis and establish a modular strategy for producing designer phosphorylated peptides, opening opportunities at the interface of natural product chemistry, enzymology and synthetic biology.
Raquel Castelo Branco completed her PhD in Marine Biotechnology and Aquaculture at the University of Porto in 2024, with research carried out at CIIMAR and the University of Helsinki. She is currently a junior researcher in the CNP group (CIIMAR), where her work focuses on cyanobacterial natural products, enzymatic chemistry and the exploration of biosynthetic pathways for the generation of new bioactive molecules.
In case of any questions, please contact CIIMAR’s Seminar team, Marta Monteiro, Miguel Semedo, & Paulo Oliveira, at seminars@ciimar.up.pt
External members of CIIMAR should send an email to slopes@ciimar.up.pt, requesting authorization to enter the Porto Cruise Terminal area
CIIMAR members can also access last seminars recordings through the LINK.
