Lecture on Folding Proteins

Mar 11, 2009



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CENTENNIAL LECTURE ON FOLDING PROTEINS

    Dr. Eric Peterson, assistant professor of chemistry at Concordia College, will present a Centennial Scholars Research Lecture at 7 p.m., Thursday, March 19, in Birkeland Alumni Lounge. Peterson and student co-inquirers Michael Erbele ’09 and Brock Jas ’09 will discuss “Folding Cytochrome c Within Sol-gel Glasses: A Characterization of Compact Protein States.”
    In their research, Peterson, Erbele and Jas study how proteins fold, a central question in biophysical chemistry since the mid-1900s. Their work focuses on understanding the types of motions that proteins undergo when they fold, particularly those that occur after the protein has collapsed into a small volume, the first step predicted by mathematical models. Interest in this area has increased with the discovery that misfolded proteins are implicated in many diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, Mad Cow and Huntington’s disease. They will discuss their current results as well as future experiments using time-resolved lasers in the Concordia College Laser Facility.
    The Centennial Scholars Program brings together faculty and students as co-inquirers on research projects.

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