521-301 Protein Structure, Design & Engineering

Credit Points

Coordinator

Prerequisites

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 521-211, 521- 212 and 521-221; or 521-203; or 521-024; or (pre-1997) 521-201 and 521-202.

Semester

Contact

Subject Description

By the end of the subject the student should have developed an understanding of the general properties of proteins, how protein design and engineering can be used for investigating structure-function relationships; the theoretical background to the major techniques used in modern protein chemistry and their applications in biotechnology. Subject content includes: Separative and analytical techniques in protein chemistry; evolution of sequence and function; structure and function of immunoglobulins, T cell receptors and antigen presentation; monoclonal and recombinant antibodies and immunodiagnostic applications, protein design and engineering; chemical synthesis of proteins; effects of point mutations on tertiary structure and biological function; molecular modelling of protein structure; protein design for biotechnology, applied to enzymes and immunological reagents, particularly recombinant chimeric antibodies and immunotoxins; analysis of protein conformation; determinants of protein folding; sequence algorithms for structural prediction, circular dichroism, fluorescence and difference spectroscopy; analytical and preparative ultracentrifugation; binding of small molecules to proteins and drug design; cooperative interactions and their significance; protein-protein and protein-DNA interactions; enzyme reaction kinetics, multienzyme complexes, genetically engineered enzymes and immobilised enzymes and their industrial applications.

Assessment

A 2.5 hour end-of-semester written examination (80%) plus continuous assessment based on up to four short tests, (20%)

Prescribed Texts

• Branden C and Tooze J, Introduction to Protein Structure. 1991, Garland.