For Karoline, being a PhD candidate in the ARC Centre for Fragment-Based Design presents the opportunity to improve her fragment-based design expertise, attend conferences, and mentor students.

“To have a PhD is much more than just the “title” for me, it is a huge opportunity to learn, teach and contribute to the world and scientific community…I learn something new every day,” she says.

Research Overview

Karoline’s research focus is on the conformation, dynamics and ligand interactions of membrane proteins. She studies the structural and dynamical behavior of membrane proteins, including ion channels, using NMR and other biophysical techniques to develop selective inhibitors of these proteins using fragment-based design.

Education

Karoline attained both her undergraduate degree (Biological Physics) and Master of Science in Molecular Biophysics from São Paulo State University in Brazil before pursuing her PhD in Australia.

Awards

• Fellowship, Undergraduate Research Program, São Paulo State University (2014 – 2016)
• Fellowship, Master Degree, National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) (2017-2019)
• Award for Best Talk, MSc students: “Structural and dynamic studies of the interaction between Grb2-SH2 and Coumarin through NMR and Fluorescence”, XV Brazilian Journey of Magnetic Resonance, Brazilian Association of NMR Users (AUREMN, http://auremn.org), Bento Gonçalves (2018)
• Award for Best Poster, Molecular Biophysics: XL Brazilian Meeting on Condensed Matter Physics (SBBF), Armação de Búzios (2017)
• Award for Best Poster: XIV Brazilian Journey of Magnetic Resonance, Brazilian Association of NMR Users (AUREMN, http://auremn.org), Vitória (2006)
• Award for Best Poster: 5th Edition of Physics Week, Sao Jose do Rio Preto (2006)