International Research Fellow Award: Programmed Structural Order in Functional Dendrimer Protein Mimics

0076184Castellano国际研究员奖励计划使美国科学家和工程师能够在国外进行三到二十四个月的研究。 该计划的奖项提供了机会，联合研究，并使用独特的或互补的设施，专业知识和实验条件国外。Castellano在瑞士苏黎世的Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule（ETH）与Francois Diederich博士合作了24个月。 该项目由美国国家科学基金会数学和物理科学理事会多学科活动办公室共同资助，该项目涉及功能性树状聚合物蛋白质模拟物的程序化结构顺序的研究。 树枝状聚合物是树枝状支化的分子。 在生物系统中，二级和三级蛋白质结构协同工作，通过暴露功能和提供底物可及性来调节酶活性位点。 作为功能性的，基于树枝状聚合物的蛋白质模拟物的下一步，这项研究将解决对树枝状聚合物表面和分支结构的控制。 拟议中的卷曲螺旋树枝状聚合物将是一类新的合成蛋白质模型系统，它将结构和功能元素联合收割机结合在一起，并将代表第一个含肽树枝状聚合物，以证明明确定义和可调的结构顺序。Castellano博士的项目将补充Diederich博士实验室正在进行的研究，在识别和催化功能的树枝状聚合物，并承诺帮助工作对树枝状生物模拟领域的重大进展。Diederich博士在分子识别和超分子结构方面拥有近20年的经验。 他是仿生树枝状聚合物化学的领导者。 ETH将提供生物和化学科学的独特融合，使其成为生物有机研究项目的理想场所。 这项研究将在生物化学等领域产生影响，特别是生物合成化学和纳米材料的自组装。

0076184CastellanoThe International Research Fellow Awards Program enables U.S. scientists and engineers to conduct three to twenty-four months of research abroad. The program's awards provide opportunities for joint research, and the use of unique or complementary facilities, expertise and experimental conditions abroad.This award will provide Dr. Ronald K. Castellano with support for twenty-four months to work with Dr. Francois Diederich at Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule (ETH) in Zurich, Switzerland. This project is being co-funded by NSF's Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences' Office of Multidisciplinary Activities.This project involves the study of programmed structural order in functional dendrimer protein mimics. Dendrimers are symmetrically-branched molecules. In biological systems, secondary and tertiary protein structures work cooperatively to modulate the enzyme active site by exposing functionality and providing substrate accessibility. As a next step toward functional, dendrimer-based protein mimics this research will address control over dendrimer surface and branching structure. The proposed coiled coil dendrimers will be a new class of synthetic protein model systems that combine both structural and functional elements and will represent the first peptide-containing dendrimers to demonstrate well-defined and tunable structural order.Dr. Castellano's project will complement ongoing research at Dr. Diederich's lab, on functional dendrimers for recognition and catalysis and promises to help work toward major advances in the field of dendritic biological mimics. Dr. Diederich has nearly 20 years of experience in molecular recognition and supramolecular architectures. He is a leader in biomimetic dendrimer chemistry. The ETH will provide a unique melding of biological and chemical sciences making it the ideal place to this bioorganic research project. This research will have impacts in fields such as biochemistry, specifically biometric synthetic chemistry and in self assembly of nanoscale materials.***