RUI: The chemical basis for protein self-assembly and polymerization

在这个项目中，PI试图发现基于肽模板和卟啉结构扩展工具包的新型生物材料，以创建光电子活性纳米线。这些肽被设计成基于螺旋状蛋白结构基序形成聚合物，并且产生这些聚合物的能力已经很好地建立起来了。这些基于肽的支架被设计成结合带负电荷的卟啉，利用明确定义的离子相互作用。本研究旨在通过扩展设计原则，将带正电的卟啉和卟啉与已掺入的金属结合在一起，从而显著推进这些材料的实用性。这种设计上的扩展将允许增加光电子活动的多样性，以及调节这种活动的能力。在一个新的方向上，一种天然的盘绕线圈结构将被测试作为卟啉结合的支架。研究者将使用肌球蛋白II棒状结构域的盘绕线圈，将蛋白质共价支架的长度从数十个氨基酸延伸到数百个氨基酸。如果成功，这种支架将增加可用于制造纳米线的长度尺度。该项目本质上是高度跨学科的，将有助于许多不同的活跃研究领域的进步，包括：(1)阐明一般蛋白质折叠规则和理解聚合过程；(2)设计光电子活性生物材料；(3)创造可以沉积在表面上用于测试光电行为的生物材料。这里描述的工作将主要由本科生驱动。生物和化学专业的学生将在生物化学和生物物理学领域接受广泛的培训。研究工作的许多方面，特别是在蛋白质化学和蛋白质设计方面，已被纳入PI教授的几门课程中。PI长期致力于改善代表性不足的群体获得研究的机会。他参与了几个学院范围内的项目来提供这种机会，包括：(1)在夏季桥梁项目中教学；(2)监督和指导哈弗福德的学生，这些学生在一个周六的项目中授课，该项目向来自费城的高中生和中学生提供进入学院实验室的机会；(3)参与建立一个新的学术资源办公室，旨在为分析和批判性推理能力较弱的学生提供支持。最近，这位研究员在社区中担任领导角色，管理学生和教师研究的资金，并在整个机构中促进和加强教师的学术抱负。本项目由分子与细胞生物科学部的分子生物物理集群和化学部的生命过程化学项目共同支持。

In this project the PI seeks to discover novel biomaterials based on an expanding toolkit of peptide templates and porphyrin structures to create photoelectronically active nanowires. The peptides are designed to form polymers based on the coiled-coil protein structural motif, and the ability to generate these polymers is well established. These peptide-based scaffolds have been engineered to bind negatively charged porphyrins, taking advantage of well-defined ionic interactions. This research aims to significantly advance the utility of these materials by expanding the design principles to include binding of positively charged porphyrins and porphyrins with metals that have been incorporated. This expansion in design will allow for increased diversity of photoelectronic activity, and for the ability to modulate this activity. In a new direction, a natural coiled-coil structure will be tested as a scaffold for porphyrin binding. The investigator will use the coiled coil from the rod domain of myosin II to extend the lengths of the protein covalent scaffolds from the range of tens of amino acids to many hundreds of amino acids. If successful, such a scaffold will increase the length scale available for creating nanowires. This project is highly interdisciplinary in nature and will contribute to the advancement of a number of different active fields of research, including: (1) elucidating general protein folding rules and understanding polymerization processes; (2) designing photoelectronically active biomaterials; and (3) creating biomaterials that can be deposited onto surfaces for testing photoelectronic behavior. The work described here will be driven primarily by undergraduates. Biology and chemistry students will receive broad training in the areas of biochemistry and biophysics. Many aspects of the research work, focusing particularly on protein chemistry and protein design, have been incorporated in several courses that the PI teaches. The PI has a longstanding commitment to improving access to research for under-represented groups. He has been involved in several College-wide programs to provide this access, including: (1) teaching in a summer bridge program; (2) supervising and mentoring Haverford students who teach in a Saturday program that provides access to the College laboratories to high school and middle school students from Philadelphia; and (3) participating in the development of a new Office of Academic Resources, designed to provide support for students who enter with weaker skills in analytical and critical reasoning. More recently this investigator has taken leadership roles in the community for stewarding funding for student and faculty research, and generally promoting and enhancing faculty scholarly ambitions across the institution. This project is jointly supported by the Molecular Biophysics Cluster in the Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences and by the Chemistry of Life Processes Program in the Chemistry Division.