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 Protein Structure Prediction and Design
Kevin Karplus, Dept. of Biomolecular Engineering
Kevin Karplus' research group develops tools and techniques for protein structure prediction and protein design. He collaborates with Richard Hughey's group on the development of the SAM tool suite for profile hidden Markov models, particularly on developing protocols for using the tools for high-accuracy detection of remote relationships between proteins. Karplus' group has used these tools themselves to earn an international reputation for accurate prediction of protein structure: secondary structure, tertiary structure, and contact prediction. In the biannual Critical Assessment of Structure Prediction "contests", his group has presented papers (the "prize" for the contest) in CASP2 through CASP7. The group also collaborates extensively with UCSC wet-lab biologists in predicting structure and function for proteins of interest to them, and is starting work on designing novel proteins. [More]
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 Lipooxygenase Inhibitors as Potential Anti-Cancer Drugs
Ted Holman, Dept. of Chemistry & Biochemistry
Lipoxygenases are enzymes implicated in a broad range of human cancers, as well as cardiac and inflammatory diseases. Ted Holman's laboratory examines the enzymatic mechanism and biological function of lipoxygenase in the hopes of developing novel inhibitors. In collaboration with UCSC Professor Phil Crews, his laboratory has identified potent lipoxygenase inhibitors and are currently characterizing their structure/function reactivity. The results of this work will shed light on their potential as anti-cancer agents. [More]
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 Remarkable Protein Structures ..... and Where They Go Wrong
Glenn Millhauser, Department of Chemistry
In the laboratory of Glenn Millhauser, investigators use peptide synthesis and magnetic resonance to investigate the structure and function of biomolecules. These studies include analysis of proteins involved in devastating metabolic and neurological diseases. [More]
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 Molecular Mechanisms of Cell Cycle Regulation and Cancer
Seth Rubin, Chemistry and Biochemistry
The Rubin laboratory uses a variety of structural and biochemical techniques to investigate the molecular mechanisms that control the eukaryotic cell cycle. The aim is to elucidate detailed molecular pictures of protein-protein interactions and how these interactions are regulated by structural and chemical modifications. Improper regulation of these protein interaction networks is commonly associated with aberrant cell proliferation and cancer. [More]
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RNA Catalysis
William Scott, Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Ribozmes are RNA-based enzymes whose comparatively recent discovery came as major surprize to the scientific community, as it has always been assumed that only proteins could be enzymes. Researchers in the Scott laboratory are trying to understand how ribozymes work, using X-ray crystallography and other biochemical and biophysical techniques. The potential use of ribozymes as therapeutic agents that target RNA viruses (such as HIV) and pathological mRNAs (such as oncogene transcripts) is well-documented. Although the primary motive for our research is to answer questions of a fundamental scientific nature, it is hoped that the results of these studies will provide practical information to the scientific and medical communities to enable more potent and effective ribozyme-based pharmaceuticals to be developed by others. [More]
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 Assembly, Structure, and Regulation of the Telomerase Ribonucleoprotein
Michael Stone , Chemistry and Biochemistry
The Stone Research Group combines the use of biochemical and structural methods with newly emerging single-molecule techniques to probe the dynamics of protein-nucleic acid interactions and the molecular mechanisms of biological motors. The lab's current area of focus is the structure and function of the telomerase ribonucleoprotein, an RNA-dependent DNA polymerase that maintains genomic stability by synthesizing repetitive DNA sequences at chromosome termini. These short DNA repeats provide the foundation for specialized chromatin structures, called telomeres, which prevent deleterious chromosome fusion events by differentiating chromosome ends from sites of DNA damage. It has been shown that telomere length typically decreases with every round of cell division, leading to the so-called "molecular clock" hypothesis, wherein telomere length serves as a signal to control cellular lifespan. This notion is consistent with the finding that active telomere DNA synthesis is normally restricted to rapidly dividing cell types, such as stem cells and the majority of human cancers. Stone's research seeks to elucidate physical mechanisms governing telomere length regulation and, in turn, establish a conceptual framework within which to develop novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for human disease. [More] |
 Structure and Functional Analysis of Spliceosomes
Melissa Jurica, MCD Biology
The Jurica lab uses the tools of structural biology and biochemistry to investigate the cellular machinery responsible for editing the information contained in the RNA transcripts of nearly all of human genes. This machinery, called the spliceosome, splices out intron sequences that interrupt gene transcripts and joins exon sequences to make messenger RNAs that correctly encode for proteins. The goal of Jurica's research is to understand how the spliceosome is assembled and how it catalyzes the splicing reaction, but this is ..... [More]
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Structure and Function of the Ribosome
Harry Noller, MCD Biology
Ribosomes are RNA-based molecular machines that are responsible for synthesis of proteins. Researchers in the Noller laboratory were the first to solve the complete structure of a ribosome using X-ray crystallography. Besides the importance of protein synthesis to understanding the molecular basis of cellular function, research on ribosomes promises to improve the design of new antibiotics. Many of today's most effective anti-microbial drugs work by targeting bacterial ribosomes. As pathogenic bacteria continue to develop resistance to commonly used antibiotics, clarification of the structure and molecular mechanisms of bacterial ribosomes will be critical for the design of new drugs that will keep pace with rapidly evolving bacteria. [ More] |
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