Catherine Michaux

Physical chemistry of biomolecules

Characterization of the structure and properties of biomolecules for the purpose of designing new therapeutics and biomaterials

Prof. Catherine Michaux PhD

UNamur, Department of chemistry, Unit of theoretical and structural physico-chemistry (UCPTS), Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Biomolecules (CPB)

Member of Namur Research Institute for Life Sciences (NARILIS) & Namur Institute of Structured Matter (NISM)

Member of the Namur Research Pole in Infectiology (NaRePI)

Research portal UNamur  |  ORCID  |  ResearchGate  |  LinkedIn

Expertise and research interests

Prof. Catherine Michaux holds a PhD in chemistry and is a FNRS Research Associate at the UNamur since 2009. She established the Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Biomolecules with Prof. Eric Perpète. 

Her research aims at characterizing the structure and properties of proteins. Her projects are at the crossroads of biology, physics and chemistry. Her team has developed a strong expertise in the production, purification, characterization (spectroscopy) and modelling of biomolecular systems. Catherine Michaux is particularly interested in membrane proteins as well as in intrinsically disordered proteins, which are challenging to analyze due to their particular intrinsic properties.

Main research topics include (i) the understanding of denaturation/refolding of proteins, (ii) the production, purification and characterization of membrane proteins for nanotechnology or biomedical applications, and (iii) the study of protein-protein interactions with the aim to design novel inhibitors targeting cancer.

Group members

PhD students: Hugo Bâlon (NISM/NARILIS), Eleftheria Fotiadou (NISM/NARILIS), Blinera Juniku (NISM/NARILIS), Laurane Guillaume (NISM/ILEE), Laurelenn Hennaux (NISM/NARILIS), Tanguy Leyder (NISM/NARILIS), Virgile Neyman (NISM/ILEE), Julien Mignon (NISM/NARILIS) and Bryan Renard (NISM/NARILIS)

Research projects

  • ONGOING Development of probes and drugs targeting lipid metabolism in Prostate Cancer (PCa):  Identification of compounds active on the KRAS protein by selectively targeting its oligomeric state. Ongoing PhD thesis by Eleftheria Fotiadou. In the frame of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) funded Doctoral Network "PROSTAMET".
  • ONGOING Unravelling the phosphorylation effect on the disorder, aggregation, and binding properties of the intrinsically disordered protein DPF3a: towards new antimitotic strategies. Ongoing PhD thesis by Tanguy Leyder.
  • ONGOING Unveiling the role of the disorder in the bacterial copper-efflux membrane protein, PcoB. Ongoing PhD thesis by Hugo Bâlon.
  • ONGOING FOODWAL-PEPTIBoost: Development of innovative and sustainable industrializable approaches for the production and characterization of novel Bioactive Peptides to boost the functional quality of foodstuffs. Ongoing PhD thesis by Bryan Renard. Under co-supervision by Prof. Catherine Michaux, Prof. Thierry Arnould and Prof. Francesco Renzi. Supported by Win4excellence programme.
  • ONGOING FOODWAL-PEPTIBoost: Prediction of the physicochemical and structural characteristics of protein hydrolysates (peptides) as well as their affinities for specific receptors in obesity and immunity models. Ongoing PhD thesis by Bryan Renard. Joint PhD program at UNamur (Prof. Catherine Michaux) and MULTITEL (Jean-Yves Parfait). Supported by Win4excellence program.
  • ONGOING Structural and functional characterization of a copper efflux membrane protein : PcoB from Caulobacter crescentus. Ongoing PhD thesis by Laurelenn Hennaux. Under the supervision of Prof. Catherine Michaux.
  • ONGOING Targeting the splicing factor TFIP11 in cancer by an intrinsically disordered protein-based drug design strategy. Ongoing PhD thesis by Blinera Juniku. Under co-supervision by Prof. Catherine Michaux, UNamur (promoter) and Dr. Denis Mottet, ULiège, GIGA-Molecular Biology of Diseases (co-promoter).
  • ONGOING Unravelling the disorder-aggregation-properties relationships of the intrinsically disordered protein DPF3: towards new antimitotic strategies. Ongoing PhD thesis by Julien Mignon.
  • ONGOING Intrinsically Disordered Protein-based drug design. Research collaboration between UNamur (Prof. Catherine Michaux, Prof. Eric Perpète) and ULiège, GIGA-Molecular Biology of Diseases (Dr. Denis Mottet).
  • Incorporation of protein channels into biomimetic membranes with the aim of designing biomaterials. Master thesis by Cyril Vandevyver. Under co-supervision by Prof. Catherine Michaux and Prof. Eric Perpète. In collaboration with Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Spain (Prof. Carlos Alemán).
  • Mastering membrane proteins refolding by a surfactant-cosolvent assisted method. Master thesis defended by Amandine Hennaut. Under co-supervision by Prof. Catherine Michaux and Eric Perpète. In collaboration with Institut Laue-Langevin, Grenoble, France (Dr. Lionel Porcar and Dr. Anne Martel) and ULiège, Centre for Protein Engineering (Prof. André Matagne).
  • Deciphering the molecular mechanisms that mediate protein-protein interaction DPF3-Plk1: a key protein complex in mitosis of cancer cells. Master thesis defended by Julien Mignon. Under co-supervision by Prof. Catherine Michaux and Prof. Eric Perpète. In collaboration with ULiège, GIGA-Molecular Biology of Diseases (Dr. Denis Mottet) and ULiège, Centre for Protein Engineering (Prof. André Matagne).
  • Structural study of the membrane protein PcoB and its role in copper metabolism in Caulobacter crescentus. Master thesis by Laurelenn Hennaux. Under co-supervision by Prof. Catherine Michaux, Prof. Eric Perpète and Prof. Jean-Yves Matroule.
  • Smart hybrid nanomaterials for biomimetic membranes. PhD thesis defended by Maximilien Lopes Rodrigues in 2019. Under co-supervision by Prof. Carlos Alemán, Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Spain (promoter) and Prof. Catherine Michaux, UNamur (co-promoter).

Selected publications

Juniku B, Mignon J, Carême R, Genco A, Obeid AM, Mottet D, Monari A, Michaux C. Intrinsic disorder and salt-dependent conformational changes of the N-terminal region of TFIP11 splicing factor. Int J Biol Macromol. 2024 Jul 30;277(Pt 3):134291.

Mignon J, Leyder T, Mottet D, Uversky VN, Michaux C. In-depth investigation of the effect of pH on the autofluorescence properties of DPF3b and DPF3a amyloid fibrils. Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc. 2024 May 15;313:12415.

Leyder T, Mignon J, Mottet D, Michaux C. Unveiling the Metal-Dependent Aggregation Properties of the C-terminal Region of Amyloidogenic Intrinsically Disordered Protein Isoforms DPF3b and DPF3a. Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Dec 4;23(23):15291.

Mignon J, Mottet D, Verrillo G, Matagne A, Perpete E, Michaux C. Revealing intrinsic disorder and aggregation properties of the DPF3a zinc finger protein. ACS Omega. 2021 Jul 13;6(29):18793-18801.

Michaux C, Mignon J and Perpète EA. Promising Drug Design Strategies: Intrinsically Disordered Proteins. Ann Adv Biomed Sci  2020, 3(2): 000152.

Lopes-Rodrigues M, Matagne A, Zanuy D, Alemán C, Perpète EA, Michaux C. Structural and functional characterization of Solanum tuberosum VDAC36. Proteins. 2020 Jun;88(6):729-739.

Michaux C, Pepete E. Unravelling the refolding of membrane proteins, one of the most challenging therapeutic targets Med Clin Sci. 2019;1(2):1-3.

Lopes-Rodrigues M, Zanuy D, Alemán C, Michaux C, Perpète EA. 3D structure of a Brucella melitensis porin: molecular modelling in lipid membranes. J Biomol Struct Dyn. 2019 Sep;37(15):3923-3935.

Roussel G, Caudano Y, Matagne A, Sansom MS, Perpète EA, Michaux C. Peptide-surfactant interactions: A combined spectroscopic and molecular dynamics simulation approach. Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc. 2018 Feb 5;190:464-470.

Michaux C, Roussel G, Lopes-Rodrigues M, Matagne A, Perpète EA. Unravelling the mechanisms of a protein refolding process based on the association of detergents and co-solvents. J Pept Sci. 2016 Jul;22(7):485-91.

ALL PUBLICATIONS

Contact

catherine.michaux@unamur.be