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Full-Text Articles in Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology
Computational Investigation Of The Pore Formation Mechanism Of Beta-Hairpin Antimicrobial Peptides, Richard Lipkin
Computational Investigation Of The Pore Formation Mechanism Of Beta-Hairpin Antimicrobial Peptides, Richard Lipkin
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
β-hairpin antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are small, usually cationic peptides that provide innate biological defenses against multiple agents. They have been proposed as the basis for novel antibiotics, but their pore formation has not been directly observed on a molecular level. We review previous computational studies of peptide-induced membrane pore formation and report several new molecular dynamics simulations of β-hairpin AMPs to elucidate their pore formation mechanism. We simulated β-barrels of various AMPs in anionic implicit membranes, finding that most of the AMPs’ β-barrels were not as stable as those of protegrin. We also performed an optimization study of protegrin β-barrels …
Enzymatically Active Microspheres For Self-Propelled Colloidal Engines, Jungeun Park
Enzymatically Active Microspheres For Self-Propelled Colloidal Engines, Jungeun Park
Dissertations and Theses
Micro- and nano-motors have attracted numerous attentions from various scientific areas due to their potential applications. Most studies on self-propelled colloidal engines have exploited catalytic decomposition of hydrogen peroxide to drive the motor. Since the hydrogen peroxide is caustic, it is not suitable to use in biological applications, encouraging people to develop “greener” fuels. The aim of this research is to study a new transduction mechanism for self-propulsion not tied to hydrogen peroxide, and which can in particular be used with biological molecules as fuels. In this study, we focus on making particles with enzymatic activity which can effectively decompose …