Abstract:
Iron is a metal essential to life and is necessary for a wide variety of metabolic purposes. Transferrin is a naturally occurring metal chelating protein responsible for the transport and donation of iron. My goal is to make use of a technique known as Isothermal Titration Calorimetry (ITC) in order to have a better insight into the interaction of different protein forms and their receptors. Isothermal Titration Calorimetry is a simple quantitative means available for measuring the thermodynamic properties of any molecular interaction and it is widely used by research labs all over the world. The thermodynamic parameters given by this instrument will provide a unique and effective way to better characterize the protein, to evaluate the contribution of each lobe to receptor binding and to probe any co-operativity between lobes in a completely controlled manner.
