MRI: Acquisition of a Spectropolarimeter: A Chiro-optical Spectroscopy Workbench

Gonzaga University, Spokane WA

Investigators

Abstract

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). Through this award from the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program, Professor Matthew Creemins and colleagues Tomaso Vanelli and Jeffrey M. Watson of Gonzaga University will acquire a spectropolarimeter. Examples of undergraduate research projects that will employ the instrument include, (1) characterization of neuropeptides, (2) characterization of the stability of siderocalin mutants and their complexes with bacterial siderophores, (3) characterization of the structural and sequence requirements for thermal stability of an arsenite oxidase enzyme, and (4) characterization of an enzymatic mechanism for a HMG-CoA reductase by assessing the effects of substrates and substrate analogues on the folding of a key structural element of the enzyme. Circular dichroism spectrometers are a valuable tool in modern laboratories for assessing the chiral properties and the changes in such properties of proteins, DNA, and small molecules. The spectrometer measures the optical activity of compounds which results from their differential response to light of different polarizations. The instrument will be used in undergraduate research and laboratory courses. It will incorporated into Native American and high school outreach projects and used by researchers at Whitworth University.