One Drug for All RNA Viruses

Live Poster Session: Zoom LinkThursday, July 30th 1:15-2:30pm EDT Abstract: With cases and deaths constantly rising, and a vaccine that has yet to been developed, scientists everywhere are focusing their efforts on repurposed drugs, preexisting FDA approved drugs used to treat other viruses/illnesses, to see which ones are safely effective at treating Covid-19 patients with … Read more

Mapping and Visualizing the Free Energy Landscape of p53 using Vectors

Live Poster Session: Zoom LinkThursday, July 30th 1:15-2:30pm EDT Abstract: Under the notion that molecular motions such as protein folding and conformational substate selection are energetically biased, the free energy landscape becomes an integral informational tool in the design of allosteric effectors to control the biological processes of proteins. In order to capture the free … Read more

Modifying a Mini Protein with Two Conformational States to Instead Adopt Only One Conformation

Live Poster Session: Zoom LinkThursday, July 30th 1:15-2:30pm EDT Abstract: Our project is focused on the computationally-designed mini protein EHEE_rd2_0005. While the structure of this protein was previously determined in molecular dynamics simulations, structural knowledge derived from simulations are not as precise as real-world analysis. Members of our lab have previously attempted to obtain more … Read more

A Computational Investigation of Energetics in Diels-Alder Reactions Using Vinyl Sulfone Derivatives

Live Poster Session: Zoom LinkThursday, July 30th 1:15-2:30pm EDT Abstract: Dendrimers, a type of highly branched macromolecule, play a key role in drug delivery, tissue engineering and the design of specialty polymers. Diels-Alder and thiol-maleimide click chemistry reactions using furan maleimide have been previously studied as a means of synthesizing multilayered dendrimers, however, the maleimide … Read more

Computational Investigation into the Thermodynamic and Electronic Properties of Quinoxalines

Live Poster Session: Zoom LinkThursday, July 30th 1:15-2:30pm EDT Abstract: Several research projects in the Northrop lab have focused on the synthesis and self-assembly of large molecular frameworks of different shapes and sizes that are able to function as semiconductive organic materials. While there has been some success at synthesizing semiconductive organic polymers and frameworks … Read more

Exploring Simulated Molecular Dynamics Between Heptosyltransferase I Domains

Live Poster Session: Zoom LinkThursday, July 30th 1:15-2:30pm EDT Abstract: Heptosyltransferase I (HepI) dynamics are critical to successful addition of a heptose moiety to lipopolysaccharides, a component of the Gram-negative bacterial cell membrane. Without this addition, a truncated lipopolysaccharide is synthesized, and survival of bacteria treated with hydrophobic antibiotics decreases. Previous investigations, including tryptophan fluorescence … Read more

Investigating the Stability of the LigAB Dimer Interface with Molecular Dynamics Simulations

Live Poster Session: Zoom LinkThursday, July 30th 1:15-2:30pm EDT Abstract: Protein dimerization has been shown to play an integral role in many biological functions, from regulation of cellular mechanisms to forming important enzymatic structures. The enzyme LigAB is a homodimer of heterodimers of which the active site is located at the heterodimeric interface. In previous … Read more

Structural Features in Mini-Fluorescence Activating Proteins affecting Chromophore Bond Rotation Times

Live Poster Session: Zoom LinkThursday, July 30th 1:15-2:30pm EDT Abstract: Dou et al engineered the first fluorescence-activating beta barrel that binds a small GFP derived chromophore known as DFHBI. The Smith Lab subsequently developed a more comprehensive and rational explanation for why one variant of the beta barrel structure differed from another in terms of … Read more

Altered Electrophysiology and Calcium Dynamics in SOD1-Associated Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Abstract: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease characterized by the dysfunction and death of motor neurons in the spinal cord, brain stem, and motor cortex. Approximately 10% of all ALS cases are familial (fALS) and have been linked to a variety of genetic mutations. About 20% of fALS cases are linked to … Read more