Characterizing membrane proteins using biophysical techniques remains a challenge due to maintaining the structural integrity of the membrane protein in vitro. Recently, a novel membrane mimetic system has come of age where an amphiphilic copolymer, styrene-maleic acid (SMA), is added to heterogeneous lipid bilayers to form small homogeneous discs (~10 nm) called styrene-maleic acid copolymer […]
C21: Orthogonal Strategies for the Photochemical Synthesis of Well-Defined Bifunctional Bioconjugates
By attaching polymers to specific sites along a protein, bioconjugation presents an opportunity to increase the functionality of proteins. Bioconjugates have exhibited greater thermal and chemical stability, substrate affinity, and serum half-life. By adding two different polymers to a protein, bifunctional bioconjugation allows for greater control over the functionality of the protein, increasing the stability […]
C28: Combatting Antibiotic Resistance: Structural Characterization of VIM and NDM Mutants
Antibiotics have been essential to the development of modern medical practices and are often used as the first line of defense in most illnesses. However, a cause of increasing problems and concerns in the medical community is the development of antibiotic-resistance mechanisms in pathogenic bacteria. Some of the most worrying enzymes to emerge are metallo-beta-lactamases […]