Acquisition of a Spectrofluorometer for Faculty-Mentored Student Research in Biochemistry

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9977518Abstract This project involves the acquisition of a spectrofluorometer that will be used by undergraduates in biochemistry course laboratory research and in individual faculty mentored research. The instrument will allow students to measure fluorescent properties of biological molecules. Both excitation and emission monochromators can be scanned independently or synchronously. The specificity and sensitivity offered by fluorescence spectroscopy will provide advantages over radioisotope use without the cost or infrastructure required for their use. Students will use the spectrofluorometer to investigate membrane structure and dynamics, protein structure and stability, protein folding and unfolding, binding interactions between macromolecules and ligands, facilitated diffusion and cell involvement in ligand recognition and signal transduction. Individual research projects will include characterization of serine protease and acid phosphatase inhibitors which can be used to probe structural changes in the enzyme associated with expression and regulation of enzyme activity. In addition fluorescence spectroscopy will be used to characterize the binding, internalization and intracellular changes in metabolism on binding of normal and oxidized low density lipoprotein to endothelial cells. These changes include detection of reactive oxygen species, oxidatively-modified proteins and lipids and activation/inhibition of specific genes.