NSF Young Investigator/Metallobiochemistry of Nucleic Acids and of Redox Proteins

James a . Cowan博士被选为1992年美国国家科学基金会青年研究员。这个为期五年的奖项旨在表彰新教师的研究和教学成就。Cowan是俄亥俄州立大学化学系的成员，在那里他将继续进行生物无机化学的研究，专注于理解金属与核酸和酶相互作用的结构要求。他的工作将集中在四个方面：(1)镁离子辅助因子在多核苷酸加工酶中的作用；(2)序列选择性金属与核酸结合；(3) dna -蛋白相互作用的金属调控机制；(4)蛋白质与高电位铁蛋白结合的结构因素。蛋白质的折叠和排序对金属的结合提出了特定的要求，但金属的结合也可以改变蛋白质的结构，增强（或降低）其酶活性。考恩将调查这些具体情况，以了解金属结合DNA和某些多核苷酸和酶的要求和后果。

Dr. James A. Cowan has been selected as a National Science Foundation 1992 Young Investigator. This five year continuing award recognizes the research and teaching achievements of new faculty members. Cowan is a member of the chemistry department at Ohio State University where he will continue to carry out research in bioinorganic chemistry, concentrating on understanding the structural requirements for the interaction of metals with nucleic acids and enzymes. His work will focus on four areas: (1) the role of the magnesium ion cofactor in polynucleotide processing enzymes; (2) sequence selective metal binding to nucleic acids; (3) metalloregulatory mechanisms for DNA-protein interactions; and (4) structural factors of protein binding to high potential iron protein. Folding and sequencing in proteins imposes specific requirements for association by a metal, but binding by a metal can also modify the protein's structure and enhance (or reduce) its enzymatic activity. Cowan will investigate these specific cases in order to understand the requirements for and consequences of metal binding to DNA and certain polynucleotides and enzymes.