U.S.-Japan Cooperative Science: Early Events of Protein Folding

该奖项支持伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校的Martin Gruebele教授和日本关西医科大学的Hiroshi Kihara教授之间为期三年的合作研究项目。研究人员将对蛋白质折叠的早期事件进行研究。这项研究将把两国的实验学家和理论家聚集在一起，研究三种蛋白质折叠过程中的早期事件：脱蛋白肌红蛋白、泛素突变体和β-乳球蛋白。他们将共同努力，将折叠相图扩展到低温和高粘度条件。理论家们将从最早的实验阶段开始全面参与该项目。这项研究将通过探索在广泛的外部条件下的能量景观来拓宽我们对折叠的认识。在非常低的温度和很高的粘度下，非常快速的折叠事件将大大减慢，并将研究动力学对外部条件的依赖。最近开发的理论模型将被用来模拟这些条件，并且实验数据将允许理论中的参数受到约束。要研究的蛋白质样本很广，包括阿尔法、阿尔法/贝塔，主要是贝塔蛋白。该项目汇集了两个拥有互补专业知识和研究能力的实验室的努力。美国研究人员提供T-JUMP/荧光专业技术，而日本研究人员在筑波光子工厂提供X射线散射专业知识。这项研究通过研究生的参与促进了国际人力资源的发展。通过思想和技术的交流，这个项目将扩大我们的基础知识基础，促进国际理解与合作。研究人员计划在科学期刊上发表研究结果，并在科学会议上报告研究结果。

0089286GruebeleThis award supports a three-year collaborative research project between Professor Martin Gruebele of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and Professor Hiroshi Kihara of the Kansai Medical University in Japan. The researchers will be undertaking a study of the early event of protein folding. The research will bring together experimentalists and theorists from both countries to study early events during the folding of three proteins: apomyoglobin, a ubiquitin mutant, and beta-lactoglobulin. Their efforts will be combined to extend the folding phase diagram to low temperature and high viscosity conditions. The theorists will be fully involved in the project beginning with the earliest experimental stages. The research will broaden our knowledge of folding by exploring the energy landscape under a wide range of external conditions. At very low temperatures and high viscosity very fast folding events will be slowed down considerably and the dependence of the kinetics on external conditions will be studied. Recently developed theoretical models will be used to simulate these conditions, and the experimental data will allow parameters in the theory to be constrained. The proteins to be studied sample a wide class of alpha, alpha/beta and mostly beta proteins. The project brings together the efforts of two laboratories that have complementary expertise and research capabilities. The U.S. researchers provide T-jump/fluorescence expertise, while the Japanese provide expertise in X-ray scattering at the Tsukuba Photon Factory. This research advances international human resources through the participation of a graduate student. Through the exchange of ideas and technology, this project will broaden our base of basic knowledge and promote international understanding and cooperation. The researchers plan to publish results of the research in scientific journals and report on the findings at scientific meetings.