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Full-Text Articles in Biochemistry
Minimalistic Peptide-Based Supramolecular Systems Relevant To The Chemical Origin Of Life, Daniela Kroiss
Minimalistic Peptide-Based Supramolecular Systems Relevant To The Chemical Origin Of Life, Daniela Kroiss
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
All forms of life are based on biopolymers, which are made up of a selection of simple building blocks, such as amino acids, nucleotides, fatty acids and sugars. Their individual properties govern their interactions, giving rise to complex supramolecular structures with highly specialized functionality, including ligand recognition, catalysis and compartmentalization. In this thesis, we aim to answer the question whether short peptides could have acted as precursors of modern proteins during prebiotic evolution. Using a combination of experimental and computational techniques, we screened a large molecular search space for peptide sequences that are capable of forming supramolecular complexes with adenosine …
Solvation Thermodynamic Mapping In Computer Aided Drug Design, Steven Ramsey
Solvation Thermodynamic Mapping In Computer Aided Drug Design, Steven Ramsey
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
The displacement of water from surfaces upon biomolecular recognition and association makes a significant contribution to the free energy changes of these processes. We therefore posit that accurate characterization of local structural and thermodynamic molecular water properties can improve computational model accuracy and predictivity of recognition and association processes. In this thesis, we discuss Solvation Thermodynamic Mapping (STM) methods that we have developed using inhomogeneous fluid solvation theory (IST) to better characterize active site water structural and thermodynamic properties on protein surfaces and the open source tools that we have developed, GIST-CPPTRAJ and SSTMap, which implement these methods which we …
Pretargeted Radioimmunotherapy Utilizing The Inverse Electron Demand Diels-Alder Reaction, Rosemery Membreno
Pretargeted Radioimmunotherapy Utilizing The Inverse Electron Demand Diels-Alder Reaction, Rosemery Membreno
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Radioimmunotherapy capitalizes on the specificity and affinity of antibodies for their antigens to localize radioactivity at the tumor site. One limitation in using antibodies is their long circulation time, which can take days to weeks to fully clear from blood circulation. When a radioisotope is directly conjugated to this immunoglobulin vector, the red marrow and other healthy organs are receiving a constant radiation dose while it is in blood circulation. This not only harms healthy organs, but limits the dose of radioactivity that can be administered thus prolonging treatment. A promising alternative to limit the radiation dose to non-tumor tissue …
Bisthioether Stapled Peptides Targeting Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 Gene Repression, Gan Zhang
Bisthioether Stapled Peptides Targeting Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 Gene Repression, Gan Zhang
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Interactions between proteins play a key role in nearly all cellular process, and therefore, disruption of such interactions may lead to many different types of cellular dysfunctions. Hence, pathologic protein-protein interactions (PPIs) constitute highly attractive drug targets and hold great potential for developing novel therapeutic agents for the treatment of incurable human diseases. Unfortunately, the identification of PPI inhibitors is an extremely challenging task, since traditionally used small molecule ligands are mostly unable to cover and anchor on the extensive flat surfaces that define those binary protein complexes. In contrast, large biomolecules such as proteins or peptides are ideal fits …