This dissertation focuses on quantifying protein folding stability determinants and presenting initial experiments that can guide the development of a novel assay that identifies cell-penetrating miniproteins. First, despite over a century of scholarship on protein folding stability, applying this knowledge to design proteins computationally remains limited. Usually, protein designers generate...
This dissertation focuses on quantifying protein folding stability determinants and presenting initial experiments that can guide the development of a novel assay that identifies cell-penetrating miniproteins. First, despite over a century of scholarship on protein folding stability, applying this knowledge to design proteins computationally remains limited. Usually, protein designers generate...
Pattern formation of biological structures involves the arrangement of different types of cells in an ordered spatial configuration. Patterning is thought to involve the spatial organization of molecular pre-patterns that precede and drive subsequent cell differentiation and coinciding morphogenesis. These molecular prepatterns are often, although not exclusively, organized through Turing...
Over the last few years, there has been a transition away from traditional engineering materials to new advanced materials that exhibit complex architectures with improved mechanical properties. Most of the inspiration for these new materials comes from nature, where organisms have evolved an immense variety of macro and nanoscale shapes...
The three dimensional structure of a protein determines its biological function. How a protein folds, however, has been the central research problem for decades. The intermediates on the folding paths, which the protein can assume transiently, are of particular interest as they not only reveal the structural dynamics of a...
The hippocampus has been identified as a critical structure for supporting spatial memory processes in both humans and animals alike. Many of these processes such as the ability to self-localize in a given environment as well as engage in goal-directed navigation are thought to depend on the location-specific firing of...
DNA topoisomerases are enzymes present in all domains of life. They are responsible for maintaining the topological state of DNA in cells through supercoiling, relaxation, catenation, decatenation, knotting and unknotting. DNA gyrase is a unique topoisomerase, present mainly in bacteria that can introduce negative supercoils into DNA utilizing ATP hydrolysis....