The research activity in this IMEM section is devoted to the design and the development of new polymeric materials of high performance. This activity can be divided into three main different lines:

Materials Chemistry and Physics:
 This research line includes the use of theoretical calculations with model systems, the electrochemical and chemical synthesis of new polymers, their physicochemical characterization and the study of how such synthetic materials interact with biological systems.

Nanotechnology:
 Here the engineering of complex structures for nanobiological applications and the design of supramolecular structures center most of the group efforts. New nanoconstructs are characterized following a "bottom up" strategy: from the quantum description of the atom to the finite size approaches to simulate macroscopic properties of materials.

Methodological development:
 Developing new theoretical tools for prediction of material properties are a principal activity of this IMEM section. Must be remarked the search for new strategies of force field parametrization, the development of coarse grained models and, in general, investigate any computational approach to study condensed phases.

Corrosion:
This line aimed to design anticorrosive additives derived from conducting polymers, strategies for corrosion protection and formulation of new anticorrosive paints














The research activities of the subgroup of Molecular Engineering are centered on the use of the molecular structure to design new entities with specific properties and/or biological activity. The group devotes part of their activities to carry out methodological research, centered on the design of new algorithms to study the molecular structure and in part, to apply these computational tools to specific problems. Our main research lines are:

Computer-Aided Drug design
 In this area the group has tight contacts with the pharmacuetial industry and has been involved in different projects of knowledge transfer to the industrial sector. This activity regards the design of new small molecule bioactive compounds including enzyme inhibitors, antagonists of different receptors or protein-protein inhibitors. More specifically, one of our areas of expertise include the design of peptidomimetics.

Structure characterization of peptides and proteins
 Efforts in this direction have been focused on the characterization of the conformational profile of peptides of different length. The effect of the solvent in the density of states has also been assessed, as well as the dynamic properties of peptides including its folding propensities. Studies in this direction are aimed at contributing to the problem of protein folding.

Simulations of biochemical systems of interest
 In this area the efforts of the laboratory have been devoted to run simulations of G-protein coupled receptors in its lipid bilayer environment, with the aim to understand their dynamical properties and the role of the lipid bilayer on protein function.

Molecular Interactions
 This is a very fundamental research area where we focus specifically in the induction interactions, its role in different chemical systems and its role in molecular recognition. Further the effect of including their contributions in molecular mechanics force fields is also carefully analyzed.