An Isothermal Titration Calorimeter to Study Thermodynamics of Molecular Recognition and Function

该奖项支持购买等温滴定量热仪（ITC），用于生物分子识别和功能的实验热力学分析。 量热法研究允许表征酶促反应，以及研究蛋白质和各种其他大分子和小分子之间的非共价相互作用。该仪器将被放置在该大学的核心设施的蛋白质研究，它将提供给教师从整个机构。 最初，预计实验室的五名研究人员和三十至五十名受训人员将成为主要用户。 计划使用该仪器的研究包括腈水解酶相关酶的底物的实验鉴定;双特异性tRNA合成酶的分析;对亲合力重要的蛋白质/DNA和蛋白质/蛋白质相互作用的表征;小环肽及其细胞靶标的结合的测量;以及T细胞受体及其天然信号配体的热力学相互作用的评估。 除了在研究中使用外，该仪器还将用于支持该大学研究生生物物理学课程的课程改革，这将为分子相互作用研究的量热方法提供一个新的重点。

This award supports the purchase of an Isothermal Titration Calorimeter (ITC) to be used for experimental thermodynamic analyses of biomolecular recognition and function. Calorimetric studies permit characterization of enzymatic reactions and, as well, study of non-covalent interactions between proteins and various other molecules, both large and small. The instrument will be placed in the University's core facility for protein studies where it will be available to faculty from throughout the institution. Initially, five investigators and thirty to fifty trainees in their laboratories are expected to be the major users. Planned studies that will use the instrument include the experimental identification of substrates of nitrilase-related enzymes; analysis of dual specificity tRNA synthetases; characterization of protein/DNA and protein/protein interactions important for avidity; measurement of the binding of small cyclic peptides and their cellular targets; and evaluation of the thermodynamics interaction of T-cell receptors and their natural signaling ligands. In addition to its use in research, the instrument will be used to support a curriculum change in the University's graduate biophysics course that will provide a new emphasis on calorimetric approaches to the study of molecular interactions.