User:Tommie Hata/2010 Pingry S.M.A.R.T. Team

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Revision as of 21:01, 23 December 2009

2010 Pingry S.M.A.R.T. Team

The 2010 Pingry School S.M.A.R.T. Team (Students Modeling A Research Topic) is working with Scott Banta at Columbia University to learn about enzymes being engineered for use in a biofuel cell. Features being engineered into these enzymes include (1) self-assembly into hydrogels, (2) alternate cofactor use, and (3) broader substrate specificity. The Banta Lab is engineering these features into AdhD alcohol dehydrogenase from the thermophile Pyrococcus furiosus. AdhD is a member of the aldo-keto reductase

has been working with the Banta laboratory at Columbia University to design and produce accurate, three-dimensional physical models of alcohol dehydrogenase AdhD and other enzymes with applications for use in a biofuel cell. Features being engineered into these enzymes include (1) self-assembly into hydrogels, (2) alternate cofactor use, and (3) broader substrate specificity. Discussions with the Banta laboratory allowed the students to use RP-RasMol to design models of enzymes studied in the lab to highlight their structural and functional characteristics. These designs were used to direct rapid prototyping machines to build physical models of these enzymes.

What are S.M.A.R.T. Teams?

"Understanding the relationship between a molecular structure and the function it carries out in a cell is the core of what might be called "the molecular logic of the living state". This understanding is often very difficult to achieve for many students because the molecular world is invisible to the unamplified senses. Physical models can play an important role in making this invisible world "real". These physical models are especially powerful when used in conjunction with computer visualization software and inquiry-based laboratory experiments."

"SMART Teams (Students Modeling A Research Topic) are teams of high school students and their teachers who are working with research scientists to design and construct physical models of the proteins or other molecular structures that are being investigated in their laboratories. SMART Teams use state-of-the-art molecular design software and rapid prototyping technologies to produce these unique models."

-from the Center of BioMolecular Modeling Website.

This project was supported by Grant Number 1 R25 RR022749-01 from the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Reference

• Sanli G, Dudley JI, Blaber M. Structural biology of the aldo-keto reductase family of enzymes: catalysis and cofactor binding. Cell Biochem Biophys. 2003;38(1):79-101. PMID:12663943 doi:10.1385/CBB:38:1:79