About

The Filizola Lab belongs to the Department of Pharmacological Sciences of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (New York, NY, USA), and is physically located on the 15th (suite 15-23; laboratory) and 16th (room 16-20F; PI’s office) floors of the Icahn Medical Institute (East Building; 1425 Madison Ave, New York, NY, 10029).

The overall goal of  our research program is to obtain rigorous mechanistic insights into the structure, dynamics, and function of important classes of membrane proteins such as G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and b3 integrins, which are prominent drug targets. Understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the complex biological functions of these proteins has direct translational relevance because it informs the rational discovery of potentially improved therapeutic agents.  To this end, we use a variety of computational structural biology tools, ranging from molecular modeling, bioinformatics, cheminformatics, molecular dynamics simulations, a variety of enhanced sampling algorithms, and rational drug design approaches.

The strength of our research relies on the integration of state-of-the-art computational methodologies with collaborative experimental approaches to provide valuable mechanistic interpretations at the molecular level of the ligand-induced transmission of the signal to the inner side of the cell membrane. While our research is driven by the exploration and improvement of computational methods to characterize generalizable mechanisms of molecular recognition and signal transduction, we are excited by the contributions that our computational and modeling efforts make to the experimental field through the generation of new testable hypotheses to support the discovery of improved therapies.