Presidential Young Investigator Award/Research in Bioinorganic Chemistry

核酸生物物理学和DNA-小分子相互作用将通过构建带有DNA插入物（如乙啶）的单层电极并将这些表面暴露于核酸水溶液中来研究。具体目标是：1)组装和表征具有已知与DNA结合的垂坠功能的单层电极，2)研究DNA与这些电极的结合以及结合的核酸的生物物理学，3)研究外源金属插入物与结合的DNA的相互作用，4)研究结合药物（如博来霉素）对DNA切割的能量学。在一个独立但相关的项目中，将使用多种聚合物修饰电极的新技术来构建模型金属酶。在这些系统中，电子继电器将由电极提供，蛋白质环境将由聚合物薄膜模拟。北卡罗莱纳州立大学的H. Holden Thorp博士是无机、生物无机和有机金属化学项目的总统青年研究员。Thorp博士的项目是在生物无机化学领域，其主要目标是提高我们对金属配合物与DNA相互作用的理解，并模拟氧化还原金属酶的结构和功能。将广泛应用化学修饰电极制备方面的最新进展。

Nucleic acid biophysics and DNA-small molecule interactions will be investigated by constructing monolayer electrodes with pendant DNA intercalators such as ethidium and exposing these surfaces to aqueous solutions of nucleic acid. The specific aims are: 1) to assemble and characterize monolayer electrodes with pendant functionalities known to bind DNA, 2) to study the binding of DNA to these electrodes and the biophysics of the bound nucleic acid, 3) to study the interactions of exogenous metallointercalators with the bound DNA, and 4) to investigate the energetics of DNA cleavage by bound drugs such as bleomycin. In a separate but related project use will be made of the diverse, new technology of polymer-modified electrodes to construct model metalloenzymes. In these systems, the electron relay will be provided by the electrode, and the protein environment will be simulated by the polymer film. %%% Dr. H. Holden Thorp of North Carolina State University is supported as a Presidential Young Investigator by the Inorganic, Bioinorganic, and Organometallic Chemistry Program. Dr. Thorp's project is in the area of bioinorganic chemistry and has the key goals of improving our understanding of the interactions of metal complexes with DNA and modeling the structure and function of redox metalloenzymes. Extensive application of recent advances in the preparation of chemically modified electrodes will be made.