CNIC: U.S.-Swedish Research on the Structure and Dynamics of Lipopolysaccharides (LPS)

这项为期一年的研究启动项目通过催化新的国际合作（CNIC）项目，将由堪萨斯大学的Wompil Im和斯德哥尔摩大学的Göran Widmalm领导的一个新的美国-瑞典团队联系起来，目的是利用计算和实验技术开展关于脂多糖（LPS）结构和动力学的合作研究。LPS分子是一种复杂的两相化合物，由脂质a、核心低聚糖和具有重复单位的o -抗原多糖组成。这些大而复杂的LPS分子对革兰氏阴性菌的结构和功能完整性至关重要。LPS的复杂性使得它们的研究特别具有挑战性。在这种支持下，美国-瑞典团队将结合计算和核磁共振技术的专业知识，以提高我们对单个糖苷糖键的结构和动力学的理解，以及这些键对整体LPS结构的影响。同样令人感兴趣的是溶液和双层环境中LPS结构和动力学的异同。对这些重要的基本问题的初步回答可能会产生更广泛的影响，有助于未来的研究产生关于LPS分子在哺乳动物中的生物学影响的新知识，例如发烧，感染性休克或其他有害生理效应的原因。根据美国国家科学院出版社在2012年出版的《转化糖科学：未来路线图》一书中提出的建议，美国和瑞典的合作伙伴还计划在聚糖（碳水化合物、糖和糖类的总称）领域的合作研究活动中纳入教育内容。除了为来自堪萨斯大学的一名参与者提供研究生培训外，该项目还将包括两名本科生，以获得计算聚糖生物物理学的早期职业经验。因此，在国外，每个美国学生都应该获得宝贵的机会，接触到美国-瑞典团队使用的一系列前沿计算和核磁共振技术。

This one-year research initiation project through the Catalyzing New International Collaborations (CNIC) program links a new U.S.-Swedish team, led by Wompil Im at the University of Kansas and Göran Widmalm at Stockholm University, for the purpose of developing cooperative research on the structure and dynamics of lipopolysaccharides (LPS) using computational and experimental techniques. An LPS molecule is a complex amphiphatic compound consisting of lipid A, a core oligosaccharide, and an O-antigen polysaccharide with repeating units. These large and complex LPS molecules are vital to both the structural and functional integrity of gram-negative bacteria. The complexity of LPS makes them particularly challenging to study. With this support, the U.S.-Swedish team will combine expertise in both computational and NMR techniques to improve our understanding of the structure and dynamics of individual glycosidic sugar linkages and the impacts of the linkages on the overall LPS structures. Also of interest are the differences and similarities of LPS structure and dynamics in solution and bilayer environments. Peliminary answers to these important fundamental questions may have broader impact by contributing to future research yielding new knowledge of the biological impact of LPS molecules in mammals, such as the cause of fever, septic shock, or other deleterious physiological effects.Responding to recent recommendations in the 2012 book "Transforming Glycoscience: A Roadmap for the Future," published by The National Academies Press, the U.S. and Swedish partners also plan to integrate an education component with the research activities of the collaboration in the area of glycans, a general term for carbohydrates, sugars, and saccharides. In addition to providing graduate student training for one participant from the University of Kansas, the PI will involve two undergraduate students for early career experience with computational glycan biophysics. Therefore while abroad, each U.S. student should gain valuable exposure to an array of forefront computational and NMR techniques used by the U.S.-Swedish team.