Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for FY 2002

这一行动为NSF 2002财年少数民族博士后研究奖学金提供了资金。该奖学金的目标是为少数族裔科学家在学术界和工业界担任科学领导职位做好准备。为了实现这一目标，该奖学金为最近的博士后获得者提供了高质量的博士后培训机会。这项计划是美国国家科学基金会的一项努力，目的是增加来自少数族裔群体的研究科学家的数量，从而为国家科学事业的未来活力做出贡献。预计通过这些奖学金培训的研究员将在未来的劳动力培训中发挥重要作用。该奖学金的研究和培训计划题为“可能引发细胞转化的CDC42Hs突变蛋白的结构研究”。核磁共振波谱正在被用来表征突变形式的Cdc42Hs，这是一种在大肠杆菌中克隆的细胞内信号转导蛋白。这种蛋白质与GTP或GDP结合，并根据结合配体的性质作为分子定时开关。这项研究将确定两个cdc42Hs突变体的结构和动力学，以了解cdc42Hs在导致细胞转化的过程中所起的作用。

This action funds an NSF Minority Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for FY2002. The goal of the fellowship is to prepare minority scientists for positions of scientific leadership in academia and industry. To attain this goal, the fellowship provides opportunities for postdoctoral training of the highest quality to recent doctoral recipients. This program is an effort by the NSF to increase the number of research scientists from underrepresented minority groups, thereby contributing to the future vitality of the Nation's scientific enterprise. It is expected that Fellows trained through these fellowships will play important roles in training of the future workforce.The research and training plan for this fellowship is entitled "Structural studies on Cdc42Hs mutant proteins that may initiate cellular transformation." NMR spectroscopy is being used to characterize mutant forms of Cdc42Hs, an intracellular signal transduction protein cloned in E. coli. This protein binds GTP or GDP and acts as a molecular timing switch based on the nature of the bound ligand. The research will determine the structure and dynamics of two Cdc42Hs mutants to understand the role of Cdc42Hs in processes that lead to cell transformation.