Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Biophysical Characterization Of A De Novo Elastin, Kelly Nicole Greenland

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Natural human elastin is found in tissue such as the lungs, arteries, and skin. This protein is formed at birth with no mechanism present to repair or supplement the initial quantity formed. As a result, the functionality and durability of elastin's elasticity is critically important. To date, the mechanics of this ability to stretch and recoil is not fully understood. This study utilizes de novo protein design to create a small library of simplistic versions of elastin-like proteins, demonstrate the elastin-like proteins, maintain elastin's functionality, and inquire into its structure using solution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR).

Elastin is formed from …

Climate-Smart Agriculture: Farmer's Bane Or Boon?, Jeeva Mary Jacob

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) is one of the solutions that simultaneously address the issues of food security, climate change and agricultural productivity. It has been gaining momentum in the last five years among policy circles and development organizations have prioritized CSA interventions in developing countries around the world. In this paper, CSA interventions are examined from the small farmer's perspective and the purpose of this paper is to find out whether Climate-Smart Agriculture truly empowers the farmer in the face of climate change. Such a study emerged from the fact that in the past, agricultural interventions like the Green Revolution promised …

De Novo Design And Engineering Of Functional Metal And Porphyrin-Binding Protein Domains, Bernard Howard Everson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this work, I describe an approach to the rational, iterative design and characterization of two functional cofactor-binding protein domains. First, a hybrid computational/experimental method was developed with the aim of algorithmically generating a suite of porphyrin-binding protein sequences with minimal mutual sequence information. This method was explored by generating libraries of sequences, which were then expressed and evaluated for function. One successful sequence is shown to bind a variety of porphyrin-like cofactors, and exhibits light- activated electron transfer in mixed hemin:chlorin e6 and hemin:Zn(II)-protoporphyrin IX complexes. These results imply that many sophisticated functions such as cofactor binding and electron …