Research Opportunity Number: CHE-01
Project Title: Investigating the Chiral Protein Microenvironment of Reactive Tryptophan Residues
Project Summary: Tryptophan (Trp) comprising only 1% of all proteinogenic amino acids is crucial for protein stability and function. Its indole moiety scaffolds a variety of intramolecular interactions such as cation–π, π–π, and hydrophobic interactions, as well as intermolecular interactions such as protein-protein and protein-nucleic acid phase-separation processes. The post-translational modifications of tryptophan are implicated in stabilizing protein structure and facilitating certain signal-transduction pathways. Our previous work developed Trp-selective chemical probes that leverage a biomimetic oxidative indole cyclization reaction to form stable Trp adducts, allowing for robust profiling of these amino acids. We seek to build upon this work by synthesizing and utilizing a small molecule library of enantiomeric Trp probe pairs to investigate the role of chiral bias for reactive Trp residues.
Student Roles and Responsibilities: Cell culture, prepare proteomic samples, biochemical analysis of protein targets. We will conduct mammalian cell culture experiments in HEK-293T cells including the maintenance of cell lines, cell splitting, and lysis of cells. Proteomic experiments will be conducted using a core facility instrument (Bruker timsTOF). We will also conduct follow up biochemical studies on identified protein targets through molecular cloning, expression, and purification of recombinant proteins as well as transfection of mammalian cells for in cellulo biochemical testing.
Additional Considerations: Student should have completed at least a year of Chemistry, Biology and Physics by the beginning of LLP and have coding skills and lab research experience.
Department/Institute: Department of Chemistry
Participation Dates: June 12 – August 15, 2025
Stipend Offered: $0
Number of Internships Available: 0-1
Application Deadline: March 15, 2025, midnight Eastern Daylight Time