Nonlinear Surface Spectroscopic Investigations into the Molecular Mechanism Governing Cell Membrane Repair

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Andrew P. Carpenter is awarded a FY21 Mathematical and Physical Sciences Ascending Postdoctoral Research (NSF MPS-Ascend) Fellowship to conduct a program of research and activities related to broadening participation by groups underrepresented in Chemistry at Oregon State University. The project being performed by Andrew Carpenter, entitled Nonlinear Surface Spectroscopic Investigations into the Molecular Mechanism Governing Cell Membrane Repair, is to be conducted under the guidance of mentoring scientist Joe Baio. This project is supported by the Office of Multidisciplinary Activities and the Chemistry Division in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences, and by the Molecular Biophysics Program of the Molecular and Cellular Biosciences Division of the Biological Sciences Directorate.Membrane-bound proteins carry out many cellular functions, including repair of tears in the cellular plasma membrane. This process is not well understood, and this project will utilize vibrational sum-frequency generation (VSF) spectroscopy to investigate the mechanism governing membrane repair by the specific protein dysferlin, including determining the phospholipids that dysferlin binds at membrane surfaces to initiate the membrane repair process, elucidating the membrane packing conditions necessary for dysferlin binding, directly interrogating dysferlin at vesicle surfaces using VSF scattering spectroscopy, and establishing experimental and computational methodology needed to extract structural information from VSF spectra of multi-domain proteins. Broadening participation of Native Americans in science, technology, math and engineering will be supported by partnering with efforts at Oregon State University that focus on providing research opportunities and targeted STEM outreach events for students and teachers from the local Chemawa Indian school.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.