CAREER: A Combinatorial Approach to the Discovery of New Metal Complexes for Peptide Cleavage.

Georgia State University Research Foundation, Inc., Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

This CAREER award in the Inorganic, Bioinorganic and organometallic Chemistry program supports research on the development of a new combinatorial method that will be used to rapidly screen metal ions and complexes for peptide cleavage, by Professor Kathryn Grant of the Department of Chemistry at the Georgia State University. This methodology involves the use of resin beads for immobilization of peptides followed by cleavage in the presence of various metal ions. The success of a particular metal ion-amino acid (mono-tripeptide) combination will be monitored by means of fluoresence. In addition to identifying active metals, the method will also reveal the degree of sequence specific cleavage and indicate the actual amino acid sequence motifs that are cleaved. The goal of this research is to develop a method to quickly examine and identify metal compounds which can cleave peptides at selected sites. Such reagents have become increasingly important to the fields of chemistry and biology for protein structural analysis, and there is a great need for new ones which can operate under mild conditions. The results of this study will contribute to the design of second generation metal complexes with enhanced cleavage efficiencies. A new inorganic chemistry course on the roles of metal ions in biological systems will be introduced and students will participate in an ongoing statewide science TV series. An innovative student summer internship program working through a placement agency will be organized, and will allow undergraduates to gain valuable industrial experience.