Gabriella (Gabi) Heller is the Rosalind Franklin Research Fellow at Newnham College. Her research focuses on intrinsically disordered proteins, biomolecules lacking a single, rigid three-dimensional structure that instead exist as a dynamic equilibrium of conformationally distinct states. These proteins are highly prevalent in diseases such as dementia and cancer, yet are often considered therapeutically 'untargetable' as they are unamenable to traditional drug discovery techniques.  Gabriella aims to understand whether and how intrinsically disordered proteins can be targeted by small molecule therapeutics using a combination of computational and experimental techniques. 

Publications

A small molecule stabilises the disordered native state of the Alzheimer’s Aβ peptide
T Löhr, K Kohlhoff, G Heller, C Camilloni, M Vendruscolo
(2021)
Small-molecule sequestration of amyloid-β as a drug discovery strategy for Alzheimer’s disease
GT Heller, FA Aprile, TCT Michaels, R Limbocker, M Perni, FS Ruggeri, B Mannini, T Löhr, M Bonomi, C Camilloni, A De Simone, IC Felli, R Pierattelli, TPJ Knowles, CM Dobson, M Vendruscolo
Sci Adv
(2020)
6
Thermodynamic and kinetic design principles for amyloid-aggregation inhibitors
TCT Michaels, A Šarić, G Meisl, GT Heller, S Curk, P Arosio, S Linse, CM Dobson, M Vendruscolo, TPJ Knowles
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
(2020)
117
Rational design of a conformation-specific antibody for the quantification of Aβ oligomers
FA Aprile, P Sormanni, M Podpolny, S Chhangur, L-M Needham, FS Ruggeri, M Perni, R Limbocker, GT Heller, T Sneideris, T Scheidt, B Mannini, J Habchi, SF Lee, PC Salinas, TPJ Knowles, CM Dobson, M Vendruscolo
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
(2020)
117
A kinetic ensemble of the Alzheimer’s Aβ peptide
T Löhr, K Kohlhoff, G Heller, C Camilloni, M Vendruscolo
(2020)
Trodusquemine enhances Aβ42 aggregation but suppresses its toxicity by displacing oligomers from cell membranes.
R Limbocker, S Chia, FS Ruggeri, M Perni, R Cascella, GT Heller, G Meisl, B Mannini, J Habchi, TCT Michaels, PK Challa, M Ahn, ST Casford, N Fernando, CK Xu, ND Kloss, SIA Cohen, JR Kumita, C Cecchi, M Zasloff, S Linse, TPJ Knowles, F Chiti, M Vendruscolo, CM Dobson
Nature Communications
(2019)
10
Small molecule sequestration of amyloid-β as a drug discovery strategy for Alzheimer’s disease
G Heller, F Aprile, T Michaels, R Limbocker, M Perni, FS Ruggeri, B Mannini, T Löhr, M Bonomi, C Camilloni, A De Simone, I Felli, R Pierattelli, T Knowles, C Dobson, M Vendruscolo
(2019)
Promoting transparency and reproducibility in enhanced molecular simulations.
PLUMED consortium
Nat Methods
(2019)
16
Determination of Structural Ensembles of Proteins: Restraining vs Reweighting.
R Rangan, M Bonomi, GT Heller, A Cesari, G Bussi, M Vendruscolo
Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation
(2018)
14
A structural ensemble modulation mechanism of small molecule binding to disordered proteins
GT Heller, M Bonomi, M Vendruscolo
Journal of molecular biology
(2018)
430

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Telephone number

01223 763842, 01223 763845 (shared)