Dissecting the molecular mechanism of a group II chaperonin: protein folding in the thermosome and role of prefoldin

During her postdoctoral training years Maria gained considerable experience in the use of recombinant systems to study protein folding and stability; specifically, she worked on the characterisation in vitro of the folding process of model proteins. She then decided to focus her scientific interests on assisted protein folding in the cell, and was involved as a postdoc in a project on class II chaperonins in Professor Tony Clarke's lab at the University of Bristol. After a break due to family commitments, Maria is now returning to Professor Clarke's lab with her own project on an archaeobacterial class II chaperonin.