Bio-X
Graduate Student Fellowships 2007/2008
Larry Wang
Materials Science & Engineering
Professors S. Heilshorn and A. Spakowitz |
The goal of my research project is to understand the structural and behavioral characteristics of quaternary protein structure using the coat-vesicle protein clathrin. This study employs two major approaches in parallel: development of a theoretical model using Brownian dynamics simulation to predict quaternary structure and in vitro self-assembly experiments to observe and control the quaternary structure. The choice of clathrin as our model protein system stems from its well-studied functional characteristics and biological significance. Clathrin proteins perform their biological functions by self-assembling into cages, and recent reports have begun to elucidate the structure of the individual clathrin molecule and have provided a more detailed static picture of the in vivo assembly. A good understanding of the static elementary structural composition provides an appropriate foundation for looking at the dynamic interactions of clathrin quaternary structure. |
