Presidential Young Investigator Award

首席研究员（PI）打算研究两个特定的主题领域；二价抗体-多价抗原相互作用；β -淀粉样蛋白聚集的结构和动力学。在第一个主题领域，实验结果将用于构建抗体与细胞表面抗原之间复杂相互作用的综合数值模拟。这种定量分析将有助于开发基于抗体的诊断方法或抗原靶向治疗剂，以及分析其他受体-配体系统。对于第二个主题领域，β -淀粉样蛋白聚集成原纤维并随后沉积在大脑中，被认为是导致阿尔茨海默病异常特征的启动过程。为开展这一主题领域而开发的技术可能会更好地理解β -淀粉样蛋白聚集如何促进神经退行性过程，并开发研究蛋白质聚集的新方法。

The Principal Investigator (PI) intends to research two specific topic areas; Bivalent Antibody - Multivalent Antigen Interactions; and, Structure and Dynamics of beta-Amyloid Protein Aggregation. For the first topic area, experimental results will be used to construct a comprehensive numerical simulation of the complex interactions between antibody and cell-surface antigen. This quantitative analysis should be useful in developing antibody-based diagnostic assays or antigen-targeted therapeutic agents, and in analyzing other receptor-ligand systems. For the second topic area, aggregation of beta-amyloid protein into fibrils and subsequent deposition in the brain is believed to initiate processes leading to abnormalities characteristic of Alzheimer's disease. Techniques developed to carry out this topic area may lead to a better understanding of how beta-amyloid protein aggregation contributes to neurodegenerative processes, and to the development of new methods to investigate protein aggregation.