Monday, May 19, 2008 - 11:40 AM
Medical Arts Building, Rm M-136 (Queensborough Community College)
177

The Impact of Conformational Fluctuations on the Analysis and Design of Protein Pharmaceuticals

Vincent J. Hilser, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX

Proteins differ from small molecule pharmaceuticals not just in their chemical complexity, but in the breadth of their conformational repertoire. In fact, in recent years it has become clear that the static representation afforded by the high-resolution structure is generally insufficient to explain the impact of mutations or changes in solution conditions on the activity or the physico-chemical properties of proteins. Here, we describe how isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) can be used to in conjunction with other techniques to characterize conformational fluctuations proteins, and that this charcterization can lead to a predictive model of physico-chemical behavior.