Presidential Young Investigator Award/Research in Bioinorganic Chemistry

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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 bioplysics 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 beomycin. 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. Hoden Thorp of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 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.