Hampden-Sydney College

SUPPORT FOR COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH CHANGES TO HAMPDEN-SYDNEY COLLEGE’S INSTRUCTION DELIVERY DUE TO THE COVID-19 OUTBREAK

DISTRIBUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION EMERGENCY RELIEF FUND TO STUDENTS AT HAMPDEN-SYDNEY COLLEGE WHO HAVE BEEN IMPACTED BY THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

CAREER: DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION OF NOVEL METHODS FOR RAPID, FACILE CHEMICAL PROTEIN SYNTHESIS -EFFORTS TO DEVELOP PROTEIN THERAPEUTICS ARE HAMPERED BY AN INABILITY TO PRODUCE THE PROTEINS EXACTLY AS THEY ARE FOUND IN HUMANS. PROTEIN FOLDING IS OFTEN CRITICAL TO THE FUNCTION AND ACTIVITY OF PROTEINS. CHEMICAL SYNTHESIS CAN BE USED TO ASSEMBLE THE AMINO ACID SEQUENCES FOUND IN NATURAL PROTEINS. IT CAN'T GUARANTEE THE PROTEINS WOULD BE CORRECTLY FOLDED. THIS CAREER PROJECT INVOLVES DEVELOPING A NEW APPROACH TO THE FOLDING PROBLEM. THE TECHNIQUE IS CALLED FOLDING-ASSISTED LIGATION. THE APPROACH HARNESSES PROTEINS? INTRINSIC ABILITY TO SELF-ASSEMBLE TO FACILITATE THEIR RAPID PRODUCTION. COMPUTER MODELING OF PROTEIN STRUCTURE WILL BE COUPLED WITH EXPERIMENTS TO DRIVE THE DEVELOPMENT OF THIS TECHNIQUE. EDUCATION MODULES WILL BE DEVELOPED. A RESEARCH-BASED INTERNATIONAL STUDY ABROAD PROGRAM FOR UNDERGRADUATE STEM MAJORS WILL BE DEVELOPED. THESE WILL HELP DEVELOP THE WORKFORCE NEEDED TO POWER BIOMANUFACTURING. CHEMICAL PROTEIN SYNTHESIS ENABLES SITE-SPECIFIC FUNCTIONALIZATION. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP FOLDING-ASSISTED LIGATION, A STRATEGY FOR THE TOTAL CHEMICAL SYNTHESIS OF PROTEINS. UNLIKE TRADITIONAL NATIVE CHEMICAL LIGATION, WHICH REQUIRES CYSTEINE AT THE LIGATION SITE, THE PROPOSED METHOD COULD DRIVE LIGATION AT ANY AMINO ACID IN A PROCESS DRIVEN BY FOLDING-INDUCED PROXIMITY. THE PROPOSED PROJECT WILL (1) DEVELOP FOLDING-ASSISTED LIGATION TECHNIQUES FOR IMMUNOGLOBULIN DOMAIN-CONTAINING PROTEINS, (2) APPLY THESE METHODS TO SYNTHESIZE MIRROR IMAGE PROTEINS FOR USE IN CHEMICAL BIOLOGY AND RACEMIC CRYSTALLOGRAPHY, AND (3) CHEMICALLY SYNTHESIZE THE FC DOMAIN OF ANTIBODIES TO ENABLE THE INVESTIGATION OF GLYCOSYLATION-DEPENDENT FUNCTIONALITY. THIS APPROACH COMBINES COMPUTATIONAL STRUCTURAL PREDICTION TOOLS, SELF-ASSEMBLY OF PEPTIDE FRAGMENTS, AND CHEMICAL SYNTHESIS IN A NOVEL CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK. SUCCESSFUL DEVELOPMENT OF FOLDING-ASSISTED LIGATION WOULD PROVIDE A GENERAL, BROADLY ACCESSIBLE PLATFORM FOR THE SYNTHESIS OF LARGE AND COMPLEX PROTEINS WITH CUSTOM MODIFICATIONS. THE LONG-TERM GOAL IS TO CREATE BROADLY ACCESSIBLE TOOLS TO EMPOWER RESEARCHERS ACROSS DISCIPLINES TO ACCESS CHEMICALLY DEFINED PROTEINS FOR STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY, THERAPEUTIC DEVELOPMENT, AND PROTEIN ENGINEERING. THIS AWARD REFLECTS NSF'S STATUTORY MISSION AND HAS BEEN DEEMED WORTHY OF SUPPORT THROUGH EVALUATION USING THE FOUNDATION'S INTELLECTUAL MERIT AND BROADER IMPACTS REVIEW CRITERIA.- SUBAWARDS ARE NOT PLANNED FOR THIS AWARD.

RUI: COLLABORATIVE: UNPAK: UNDERGRADUATES PHENOTYPING ARABIDOPSIS KNOCKOUTS: A DISTRIBUTED GENOMIC APPROACH TO EXAMINE EVOLUTIONARILY IMPORTANT TRAIT

RUI: COLLABORATIVE: ENGAGING UNDERGRADUATES IN GENOMIC QUESTIONS AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXT: BUILDING A DATABASE OF COMPLEX PHENOTYPES FOR PLANT KNOCK

MEETING: HANDS-ON WORKSHOP FOR BUILDING WORKING GROUPS OF CRISPR-CAS9 UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATORS

MEETING: 2018 PRE-ASSOCIATION OF BIOLOGY LABORATORY EDUCATORS (ABLE) MEETING HANDS-ON WORKSHOP FOR INTRODUCING CRISPR-CAS9 TECHNOLOGY TO UNDERGRADUATE INSTRUCTORS

CPS: SYNERGY: COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: HYBRID CONTROL TOOLS FOR POWER MANAGEMENT AND OPTIMIZATION IN CYBER-PHYSICAL SYSTEMS

MEETING: UNDERGRADUATES PHENOTYPING ARABIDOPSIS KNOCKOUTS (UNPAK) STUDENT MEETING, AUSTIN, TX, JUNE 15-17, 2016

ASSESSING TWO CENTURIES-OLD HUMANITIES COLLECTIONS OF THE HAMPDEN-SYDNEY COLLEGE LIBRARY