Undergraduate Student Work

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    Iron delivery to cells: The role of human serum transferring
    (2010-12-15T16:15:17Z) Kandemir, Banu
    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.
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    Hemochromatosis and Ferritin
    (2010-07-29T17:36:01Z) Awomolo, Adeola
    The importance of iron in living systems cannot be overestimated. If iron is not managed efficiently, the aftermath could be catastrophic. My research project focused on understanding the structure and function of a major iron binding and storage protein called “Ferritin”. Because of its ubiquitous presence and involvement in iron balance, ferritin plays a key role in a multitude of human iron-related diseases such as hemochromatosis, anemia and a number of cancers and neurodegenerative diseases. These iron-related problems are mainly caused by the 'corrosive chemistry' of iron and oxygen. The World Health Organization estimates some 80% of the World's population (some five billion plus people) are afflicted with iron-related diseases. Thus, investigating the iron uptake and release by ferritin is a crucial step to understanding the underlying reasons of these diseases at the molecular level. The ultimate goal is to design drug molecules that would extract or deliver iron efficiently and thus treat these devastating diseases.