UPRH Biomedical Research Improvement Program

描述(由申请人提供)：本次成绩申请的总体目标是提升波多黎各大学胡马考分校(UPRH)的物质和人力资源，以增加和改善其生物医学研究活动。在实现这些主要目标时，确定了以下主要目标：(1)提高大学公共卫生学院的生物医学研究能力；(2)增加大学公共卫生学院参与生物医学研究的自然科学教员人数，以及与研究密集型机构开展生物医学研究合作的数量；(3)增加与研究密集型机构开展生物医学研究合作的数量；(4)增加大学公共卫生大学向非MBR校外生物医学研究机构提交的生物医学研究补助金申请数量；以及(5)提高大学公共卫生学院的生物医学研究生产力。目标1将通过聘请一名全职技术人员来操作和维护我们最先进的MBR资助设备来实现。目标2将从增加一名电化学家到我们的SCORE项目开始实现。这位研究人员在这项申请中提交了一项生物医学研究提案，涉及使用自组装单层方法(SAM)开发一种新的膜蛋白结晶系统。 化学系的另外五名研究人员也在这份申请中提交了研究建议。这些化学项目之一是研究酶对映体选择性的溶剂依赖性，目的是了解和提高酶在有机溶剂中的活性、稳定性和对映体选择性，用于生物相关化合物的小规模和大规模合成。第二个项目旨在开发具有较少不良光细胞毒作用的新的吩噻嗪衍生物(神经学活性化合物)，以及了解这些光细胞毒作用的机制。第三个项目建议设计改进的方法，用于酯类选择性制备具有潜在神经影响的各种胺。第四个化学项目涉及系统地研究蛋白质中不同的发夹结构，使用沿着初级氨基酸序列的同位素标记来了解蛋白质折叠的动力学。第五个化学子项目将研究苯二酚在NO还原和生产促进中的作用以及烷基化醌的肿瘤靶向毒性。预计这些项目的发展将增加向其他校外机构提出更多研究提案申请的可能性，更多的研究合作，以及随着我们的教职员工和学生在国际生物医学研究界的认可而增加同行评议出版物的数量。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The general aim of this SCORE application is the upgrade of physical and human resources at the University of Puerto Rico at Humacao (UPRH) in order to increase and improve its biomedical research activity. The following goals are set in pursuing these major aims: (1) to increase the biomedical research capacity at UPRH; (2) to increase the number of natural sciences faculty at UPRH involved in biomedical research and the number of biomedical research collaborations with research-intensive institutions; (3) to increase the number of biomedical research collaborations with research-intensive institutions; (4) to increase the number of submitted biomedical research grant applications from UPRH to non-MBRS extramural biomedical research agencies; and (5) to increase the biomedical research productivity at UPRH. Goal 1 will be achieved by hiring a full-time technician for the operation and maintenance of our most sophisticated MBRS-funded equipment. Goal 2 will be accomplished starting with the addition of an electrochemist to our SCORE project. This investigator is submitting a biomedical research proposal in this application dealing with developing a new system for membrane protein crystallization, using the self-assembled monolayers methods (SAMs). Five other research investigators from the Chemistry department are also submitting research proposals in this application. One of these Chemistry projects deals with a study of the solvent dependence of enzyme enantioselectivity with the purpose of understanding and improving enzyme's activity, stability and enantioselectivity in organic solvents for the small and large scale synthesis of bio-relevant compounds. A second project looks for the developing of new phenothiazine derivatives (neurologically active compounds) with less undesirable photocytotoxic effects, as well as understanding the mechanisms these photocytotoxic effects. A third project proposes the design of improved methods for the estereoselective preparation of diverse kind of amines with potential neurological effects. A fourth Chemistry project deals with a systematic study of different ¿-hairpin structures in proteins using isotopic labeling along the primary amino acid sequence to understand protein folding dynamics. A fifth Chemistry subproject will study quinone roles in NO reduction and production enhancements and tumor-targeted toxicity of alkylating quinones. It is expected that the development of these projects will improve the possibilities of producing more research proposal applications to other extramural agencies, more research collaborations and an increase in peer-reviewed publications with the concomitant recognition of our faculty and students in the international biomedical research community.