CAREER: Identifying the Molecular Origins of Enzyme Dynamics

University Of Iowa, Iowa City IA

Investigators

Abstract

In this award, funded by the Experimental Physical Chemistry Program of the Chemistry Division and the Molecular Biochemistry Program of the Division of Molecular and Cellular Biology of the Biology Directorate, Prof. Christopher Cheatum of the University of Iowa, and his graduate student colleagues will work to study the dynamics of enzyme-inhibitor interactions on the femtosecond to picosecond time scale. Prof. Cheatum and his group will use a multidisciplinary approach to do this using infrared photon echo and two-dimensional infrared spectroscopies on a variety of isozymes and their site-selected mutants. The ultimate goal of these types of studies is to develop a better model of enzyme catalysis, enabling more rational approaches to drug design and industrial biocatalysis. Besides the broader scientific impact of these studies, Prof. Cheatum will invite high school teachers to spend a paid summer in his laboratory, as a member of his research team. The hope is that these teachers will return to their classrooms with a better understanding about the nature of science and scientific inquiry and that they will impart some of this to their students.