NSF East Asia and Pacific Summer Institute (EAPSI) for FY 2013 in China

这一行动资助匹兹堡大学生物工程系的尼古拉斯·努尔于2013年夏天在北京北京大学中国教授那里开展了一个生物学研究项目。该项目的标题是“利用膜蛋白受体开发生物传感器”。主持会议的科学家是Can Xie博士。膜受体是嵌入细胞膜的蛋白质，介导细胞与环境之间的交流。因此，在仿生方法中，将膜受体用于生物传感器的开发和技术应用是很直观的。这一原理是通用的，这样一种技术平台可以扩展到有可能能够检测和分析数千种生物相关的化合物。该项目将该系统扩展到植物的膜受体--乙烯受体，这是谢灿教授在中国中研究的。乙烯(C2H4)是一种重要的植物生长物质，在工业上用于诱导植物贮藏产品的成熟。它的受体与胰岛素受体不是同源的，它的跨膜结构也有很大的不同，而且它的活性是组氨酸或丝氨酸/苏氨酸专一性的。本研究对植物乙烯受体NTHK1进行了研究。在已鉴定的植物激素受体中，乙烯受体是独一无二的跨膜受体，就像动物中的激素受体一样，如EGFR。这项活动研究了与谢博士合作继续研究蛋白质所必需的表达、纯化和分析设置。这位研究员博士项目的最终目标是利用对这些高度调整的受体激酶系统的理解，为新的生物传感能力建立一个可扩展的平台。该项目将对易于分析的化学物种的速度、准确性和数量产生影响。EAPSI奖学金的更广泛影响包括为研究员提供美国以外的第一手研究经验；介绍各自所在地的科学、科学政策和科学基础设施；以及了解社会、文化和语言。这些活动符合NSF的目标，即在其科学家、工程师和教育工作者的职业生涯早期为国际合作进行教育，从而确保拥有一支具有全球意识的美国科学队伍。此外，这位研究员还将加强克莱因-西萨拉曼实验室和谢实验室之间的合作。高影响力、低成本的实验室仪器解决方案是研究计划的最终下游目标。

This action funds Nicholas Nuar of The University of Pittsburgh Department of Bioengineering to conduct a research project in Biology during the summer of 2013 at Peking University in Beijing, China. The project title is "Biosensor Development Using Membrane Protein Receptors." The host scientist is Dr. Can Xie.Membrane receptors are proteins embedded in the cellular membrane that mediate the communication between the cell and its environment. It is therefore intuitive to use membrane receptors for biosensor development for technological applications in a biomimetic approach. The principle is general so that such a technology platform can be extended to potentially be able to detect and assay thousands of biologically relevant compounds. This project extends the system to a plant membrane receptor, the ethylene receptor, studied by Prof. Can Xie in China. Ethylene (C2H4) is an important plant growth substance that is used industrially to induce ripening in stored plant products. Its receptor is not homologous to the insulin receptor and its transmembrane structure is quite different, and kinase activity is either histidine or serine/threonine specific. This study investigates a plant ethylene receptor, NTHK1. Unique among identified plant hormone receptors, the ethylene receptors are transmembrane receptors just like hormone receptors, such as EGFR in animals. This activity studies the expression, purification, and assay setup necessary to continue investigating the protein in collaboration with Dr. Xie. The ultimate goal of the Fellow's PhD project is to harness understanding of these highly tuned receptor kinase systems to make an extensible platform for novel biosensing capabilities. This project will have an impact on the speed, accuracy, and number of readily analyzable chemical species. Broader impacts of an EAPSI fellowship include providing the Fellow a first-hand research experience outside the U.S.; an introduction to the science, science policy, and scientific infrastructure of the respective location; and an orientation to the society, culture and language. These activities meet the NSF goal to educate for international collaborations early in the career of its scientists, engineers, and educators, thus ensuring a globally aware U.S. scientific workforce. Furthermore, the Fellow will strengthen a collaboration between the Klein-Seetharaman lab and the Xie laboratories. High impact, low cost solutions to laboratory instrumentation are ultimate downstream aims from the program of research.