Helix Conformational Effects on the Acidities of Helical Peptides

该奖项由化学学部实验物理化学项目资助，太平洋大学任建华教授将与她的博士后、研究生和本科生研究人员一起，研究一系列设计的模型肽的气相酸度，以建立二级结构（主要是螺旋含量）如何影响单个氨基酸的pKas的模型。这些研究将通过实验（质谱）和理论（计算）方法的结合来进行。氨基酸是蛋白质的基本组成部分，了解蛋白质的结构和功能是分子生物学、蛋白质组学和许多生物化学企业的主要目标。Ren小组所做的工作有助于揭示蛋白质结构影响其基本化学成分的方式。这项研究的近期成果可能是改进现代实验室中用于蛋白质测序和鉴定的计算机算法。任教授的研究除了具有更广泛的科学影响外，她还将从当地高校（没有活跃研究项目的高校）和当地高中大力招募年轻的研究人员，从而培养一大批现代生物物理方法的年轻人。

In this award, funded by the Experimental Physical Chemistry Program of the Division of Chemistry, Professor Jianhua Ren of the University of the Pacific, together with her postdoctoral, graduate and undergraduate student researchers, will study the gas-phase acidities of a series of designed model peptides in order to build up a model of how secondary structure (primarily helix content) influences the pKas of the individual amino acids. These studies will be carried out through a combination of experimental (mass spectrometric) and theoretical (computational) methods.Amino acids are the basic building blocks of proteins, and understanding protein structure and function is a major goal of molecular biology, proteomics, and a host of biochemical enterprises. Work like that done in the Ren group can help to shed light on the ways in which a protein's structure can influence its fundamental chemistry. A near-term result of this research may be improved computer algorithms for protein sequencing and identification used in modern laboratories. In addition to the broader scientific impact of Prof. Ren's research, she will vigorously recruit young researchers from the local colleges and universities (ones without active research programs) as well as from local high schools -- thus training a large number of young people in modern biophysical methods.