Biological and Chemical Physics Commons^™

In Silico Identification Of Vaccine Candidates Against Viral Infections, Prabin Baral

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There are many viral diseases without effective treatments or vaccines. These viruses can cause catastrophic epidemics such as the Lassa, Ebola, and Marburg viruses. Similarly, the recent coronavirus pandemic is of great concern as new variants are continuously emerging with decreased susceptibility to antibodies and vaccines that were developed for earlier strains. A critical step in the immune system’s fight against viruses involves an immunological protein molecule binding to a viral protein molecule. I investigate the atomic and molecular details of binding site recognition and binding interactions and dynamics for three important viruses.

Antigens are molecules, such as viral proteins, …

Investigations Of Cell-Penetrating And Membrane-Pore Forming Peptides, Rudramani Pokhrel

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cell-penetrating and membrane-pore forming peptides are a class of membrane-active peptides. They are short sequence peptides having both hydrophilic and lipophilic combinations of amino acids. These peptides can have contrast functional diversity. Peptides encoded by viruses function as viroporins and play a critical role in viral replication, propagation, and pathogenesis. One such peptide is the Ebola virus delta peptide, which forms a pore in the host cell membrane. Another set of pore-forming peptides are antimicrobial Lantibiotic peptides that may be useful for killing antibiotic resistant bacteria by disrupting the bacterial membrane through two different possible mechanisms. Not only can they …