Non-covalent Complexes

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。在这个由化学系实验物理化学项目资助的奖项中，加州大学圣巴巴拉分校的Michael Bowers教授探索了为什么生命系统中的肽和蛋白质完全由l -氨基酸组成的问题——这是生物学中最深的谜团之一。鲍尔斯教授和他的学生将从几个简单的多肽模型系统开始，这些多肽具有广泛的手性混合形式。这些肽足够小（5或6个氨基酸长），可以对它们进行良好的理论研究，以帮助理解观察到的它们的折叠和聚集倾向的变化，这是它们的手性纯度的函数。这些多肽家族也将为该提案的第二个主要推动力——淀粉样蛋白形成机制——提供一个切入点。淀粉样蛋白在复杂的生命系统中无处不在，与许多严重疾病（阿尔茨海默氏症、2型糖尿病等）有关。目标是了解聚集过程，以及最初卷曲或α -螺旋低聚物系统如何最终成为大的β -片组装体。作为这项工作的一部分，鲍尔教授的团队将与柏林弗里茨·哈伯研究所的格哈德·梅杰和格特·冯·赫尔登展开合作。这个小组正在建造一个最先进的仪器，按照鲍尔教授的规格进行这项工作，与该设施正在建设的一个新的自由电子激光器相结合。最后，研究人员开始研究与2型糖尿病相关的具有重要生物学意义的淀粉样蛋白系统，即37残基IAPP或胰淀素肽。人类野生型肽迅速形成大的低聚物，但许多非常相似的肽不会。初步数据表明，紧凑的组合导致原纤维形成（从而导致疾病），而相同寡聚物数量的细长组合不会进一步聚集。计划进行建模和进一步的实验以充分理解这些初步结果。美国的科学教育持续低迷，威胁到我们在创新和技术发展方面的世界领导地位。问题很早就开始了。五年级已经成为儿童科学发展的第一个“走”或“不走”的指标。在加州大学圣迭戈分校，五年级有一个强有力的外展项目，由一名前小组成员发起并维持，现任研究小组成员继续提供帮助。鲍尔斯教授决定解决年轻人的第二次“去”或“不去”的决定时间——他们的高中时期。他的小组正在开发一个推广项目，让所有小组成员向高中班级展示他们的研究项目，并讲述他们个人的科学故事，以及他们最终如何进入UCSB的研究生院。小组中一名成员的初步试验取得了令人鼓舞的结果。随着项目的发展，更多的UCSB教师和研究小组将被纳入。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). In this award funded by the Experimental Physical Chemistry Program of the Division of Chemistry, Professor Michael Bowers of University of California, Santa Barbara, explores the question of why peptides and proteins in living systems are soley composed of L-amino acids - one of the deepest mysteries in biology. Professor Bowers and his students will start with several simple model systems of peptides that are available in a wide range of chirally mixed forms. These peptides are small enough (5 or 6 amino acids long) that good theory can be done on them to help understand observed changes in their folding and aggregation tendencies as a function of their chiral purity. These peptide families will also provide an entrée into a second major thrust of the proposal - amyloid formation mechanisms. Amyloids are ubiquitous in complex living systems and are implicated in many serious diseases (Alzheimer's, type 2 diabetes, etc.). The goal is to understand the aggregation process and how initially coiled or alpha-helical oligomeric systems end up as large beta-sheet assemblies. As part of this effort Professor Bower's team will initiate a collaboration with Gerhard Meijer and Gert Von Helden at the Fritz Haber Institute in Berlin. This group is building a state of the art instrument to Professor Bower's specifications for this work to couple with a new free electron laser under construction at that facility. Finally the researchers have initiated studies on a related biologically important amyloid system, the 37 residue IAPP or amylin peptide, involved in type 2 diabetes. The human wild type peptide rapidly forms large oligomers but a number of very similar peptides do not. Preliminary data implicate compact assemblies as leading to fibril formation (and hence disease) while elongated assemblies of the same oligomer number do not aggregate further. Modeling and further experiments are planned to fully understand these initial results. Science education in the United States is in a sustained downturn that threatens our world leadership in both innovation and technology development. The problems start early. The 5th grade has been targeted as the first "go" or "no go" indicator in a child's scientific development. At UCSB there is a strong outreach program at the 5th grade level initiated and sustained by a former group member with continuing help from current research group members. Professor Bowers decided to tackle the second "go" or "no go" decision time in young adults - their high school years. His group is developing an outreach program using all group members to present their research projects to high school classes and to relate their personal scientific stories and how they ended up in graduate school at UCSB. A preliminary trial with one of the group members has been run with encouraging results. Additional UCSB faculty and research groups will be incorporated as the program grows.