Bioinformatics - Prediction of protein function and functional networks
The Orengo Group's research focuses on how proteins function and evolve, how relatives in a family acquire new functions and how they evolve to operate in different biological contexts. Over twenty years ago, the group established the CATH evolutionary classification of protein domains which is a partner resource in InterPro and widely accessed. The Orengo Group develops methods for predicting functions for proteins and the networks they participate in. They are interested in integrating heterogenous functional genomics data to learn how protein networks rewire during evolution and under different biological conditions. To optimise and validate these methods the group collaborate with experimental groups characterising the signalling processes involved in development, neuropathic pain, ageing and cancer. Orengo has collaborated with over 30 groups worldwide and several consortia including the EU funded InteGr8, Biosapiens, EMBRACE, ENFIN, IMPACT, Europain consortia exploiting CATH tools and data, the NIH funded MCSG, SGCID consortia researching structural genomics and the CRUK funded LPC and DDIP consortia researching biological networks. The original CATH resource publication has been cited ~2600 times. Christine Orengo became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology in 2014, an elected member of EMBO in 2014, and a Fellow of the International Society of Computational Biology in 2016. She has been on the board of ISCB since 2011 and a Vice president of ISCB since 2013.