The Daily Bulletin Archive

Please join the Biology Department for the seminar "Design of Catalytic Function in Proteins," presented by Elizabeth Raymond, Ph.D. candidate from the Department of Chemistry at Syracuse University, on Tuesday, April 21, from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. in Technology Building 160.

All faculty, staff, and students are welcome.

Seminar Abstract
Metalloproteins are an essential component of cellular processes. These diverse cellular processes are carried out with a relatively limited number of metal-containing cofactors that allow for different functionalities based on their interaction with the protein scaffold. Changes in protein tertiary and secondary structure as a result of allosteric ligand binding leads to modifications of the cofactor environment, which then drastically alters protein function. Producing novel catalytic function(s) in proteins that can be allosterically regulated has intrinsic practical utility and provides further insight on enzymatic processes found in nature. We have designed an allosterically controlled Kemp eliminase and retro-aldolase with minimal computational efforts. This allows for greater understanding of the interactions between protein scaffolds and metal cofactors that control changes in protein functionality. Such knowledge will have important medicinal, environmental, and energy applications.