Using computational methods, we develop a modular strategy for generating supramolecular protein (enzyme) assemblies. We prototype our design using green fluorescent protein (GFP) and red fluorescent protein (RFP) that we design to self-assemble in a variety of topologies on the nanoscale.
Image: GFP-RFP fan assembly. Rendered using PyMOL v1.7.2.1.
Our team is composed of undergraduate students studying computer science, biochemistry, biomathematics, genetics and molecular biology at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey in New Brunswick, NJ. We are advised by Dr. Sagar Khare of the Center for Integrative Proteomics Research at Rutgers University.
Image: The 2015 BIOMOD team at Rutgers University. Photo by Nancy Hernandez.
Using computers, we can design and engineer proteins. Using protein design software,in our case Rosetta, we can computationally analyze millions of protein variants before expressing them in vitro. This computational methodology enables us to construct and evaluate models of protein assemblies. We are testing these assembly models in the laboratory.
Image: Protein databank (PDB) datafile assembly script. Author: Kristin Blacklock.
We are Enzymes R Us, a team of undergraduate students at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey in New Brunswick, NJ, who are participating in BIOMOD 2015, an annual biomolecular design competition hosted at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, in Cambridge, MA. We are the first BIOMOD team from Rutgers University. Our advisor is Dr. Sagar D. Khare of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, and our laboratory is located in the Center for Integrative Proteomics Research at Rutgers University.