PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

NSF CAREER grant to investigate design of fluorescent protein sensors with computer simulations that may aid human health and disease

NSF CAREER grant to investigate design of fluorescent protein sensors with computer simulations that may aid human health and disease
2024-06-12
(Press-News.org) DETROIT — Alice Walker, Ph.D., assistant professor of chemistry in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Wayne State University, received a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award from the National Science Foundation to fund her research on applying computational chemistry to the understanding and rational design of new fluorescent protein (FP) sensors.

“A sensor, chemically speaking, is a molecule that turns on or off in response to certain stimuli,” said Walker. “Proteins are good sensors because they have a florescent element; they essentially glow in the dark in response to when it touches something. Florescent proteins have a well-known structure, but it’s not entirely clear how they function. Using a set of computational techniques, we can simulate a series of responses on the computer and see how that structure actually gets translated to a signal. If you know that, you can make new ones.”

The five-year, $690,816 grant will support her project, “Computational Design of Fluorescent Proteins with Multiscale Excited State QM/MM Methods.” Walker will use this funding to investigate the design of fluorescent protein sensors with computer simulations, using both quantum mechanics and classical physics.

“Making new ones is significant when it comes to the study of human health and disease,” said Walker. “We are particularly interested in how these things move and behave and thus how they can help with treatment. By creating new florescent protein sensors, you can track them in living cells and organisms. You can then use it to see if a drug is working by being able to tag cells with these sensors.”

The grant will partially be used to increase research experience opportunities for WSU students.

“Part of the NSF CAREER grant is outreach. It’s required as part of the grant,” said Walker. “WSU has a lot of students who are commuter students or people who can’t necessarily devote a lot of on-campus hours for research, so this grant also supports an undergraduate research course as an alternative to traditional daily research in a lab. This allows them to get access to research and computational resources without having to live on campus or frequent the lab in their off-campus time.”

“NSF CAREER awards are very prestigious for junior faculty to receive,” said Ezemenari Obasi, Ph.D., vice president for research at Wayne State University. “Dr. Walker is most deserving of this award for her impressive research that will undoubtedly have a tremendous impact on health assessment and beyond.”

The grant number for this National Science Foundation award is 2338804.

# # #

About Wayne State University

Wayne State University is one of the nation’s pre-eminent public research universities in an urban setting. Through its multidisciplinary approach to research and education, and its ongoing collaboration with government, industry and other institutions, the university seeks to enhance economic growth and improve the quality of life in the city of Detroit, state of Michigan and throughout the world. For more information about research at Wayne State University, visit research.wayne.edu.

Wayne State University’s research efforts are dedicated to a prosperity agenda that betters the lives of our students, supports our faculty in pushing the boundaries of knowledge and innovation further, and strengthens the bonds that interconnect Wayne State and our community. To learn more about Wayne State University’s prosperity agenda, visit president.wayne.edu/prosperity-agenda.

END

[Attachments] See images for this press release:
NSF CAREER grant to investigate design of fluorescent protein sensors with computer simulations that may aid human health and disease

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Study shows politicians deny misdeeds because we want to believe them

Study shows politicians deny misdeeds because we want to believe them
2024-06-12
Why do politicians lie and deny when they are caught up in political scandal? According to a newly published study led by a University of Nebraska–Lincoln political scientist, the answer may be that their supporters prefer a less-than-credible denial to losing political power and in-group status because of a discredited standard-bearer. “The driving question of our research is whether people are actually incentivizing politicians to deny wrongdoing and escape accountability,” said Pierce Ekstrom, assistant professor of political science at Nebraska. “Certainly, there’s a very strong norm ...

Case study reveals important new details about rare second cancers related to CAR-T therapy

2024-06-12
WASHINGTON – A new detailed analysis of a patient’s second cancer after receiving CAR-T therapy for the initial cancer provides rare but important insights intended to offer helpful guidance for oncologists and pathologists about the clinical presentation and pathologic features involved in a CAR-T related second cancer. The finding is reported June 13, 2024, in the New England Journal of Medicine. CAR-T therapy is described by many as a new and promising treatment for blood cancers. CAR-T therapy is made from a patient’s ...

Risk of secondary cancers after CAR-T cell therapy low, according to large Stanford Medicine study

2024-06-12
A large study by researchers at Stanford Medicine has found that the risk of secondary blood cancers after CAR-T cell therapy — a cell-based cancer treatment that exploded on the scene in 2017 as a treatment for intractable blood cancers — is low, despite a Food and Drug Administration warning.  In November 2023, the FDA issued a warning about a risk of secondary cancers — particularly blood cancers — that may be associated with CAR-T cell therapy. The warning was preceded by a rising tide of ...

Mouse study identifies unique approach for preventing life-threatening complications after spinal cord injury

Mouse study identifies unique approach for preventing life-threatening complications after spinal cord injury
2024-06-12
COLUMBUS, Ohio – In response to stressful or dangerous stimuli, nerve cells in the spinal cord activate involuntary, autonomic reflexes often referred to as “fight or flight” responses. These protective responses cause changes in blood pressure and the release of stress hormones into the blood stream. Normally, these responses are short-lived and well-controlled, but this changes after a traumatic spinal cord injury. A first-ever study published in the journal Science Translational Research identifies a ...

Western agricultural communities need water conservation strategies to adapt to future shortages

Western agricultural communities need water conservation strategies to adapt to future shortages
2024-06-12
Reno, Nev. (June 12, 2024) – The Western U.S. is heavily reliant on mountain snowpacks and their gradual melt for water storage and supply, and climate change is expected to upend the reliability of this natural process. Many agricultural communities in this part of the country are examining ways to adapt to a future with less water, and new research shows that a focus on supplementing water supply by expanding reservoir capacity won’t be enough to avert future water crises.   Led by scientists at the Desert Research Institute ...

Does having a child with low birth weight increase a person’s risk of dementia?

2024-06-12
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4 P.M. ET, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2024 MINNEAPOLIS – People who give birth to infants less than 5.5 pounds may be more likely to have memory and thinking problems later in life than people who give birth to infants who do not have a low birth weight, according to a study published in the June 12, 2024, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The effect on memory and thinking skills was equivalent to one to two years of aging for those with low-birth-weight deliveries. The study does not prove that delivery of a low-birth-weight ...

Depressive symptoms in young adults linked to thinking, memory problems in midlife

2024-06-12
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4 P.M. ET, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2024 MINNEAPOLIS – People who experience prolonged depressive symptoms starting in young adulthood may have worse thinking and memory skills in middle age, according to a study published in the June 12, 2024, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study also found that depressive symptoms were experienced more often by Black adults than white adults. “The processes that lead to dementia begin long before signs of the disease become apparent, and previous research has shown that Black adults have a higher risk of dementia than white adults,” said study author ...

Avoidable deaths during Covid-19 associated with chronic hospital nurse understaffing

2024-06-12
Philadelphia (June 12, 2024) – A new study published in International Journal of Nursing Studies showed that individuals with Covid-19 were more likely to die in hospitals that were chronically understaffed before the pandemic. This study is one of the first to document the continuing public health dangers of permitting so many U.S. hospitals to ration nursing care by understaffing nursing services.  The study, conducted by researchers at the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research (CHOPR) at the University ...

Convenient at-home test identifies at-risk individuals with inadequate immunity to COVID-19

2024-06-12
By late in the pandemic more than 96% of individuals in the U.S. ages 16 and older had COVID-19 antibodies from infection or vaccination. However, immunity from the virus tends to wane over time. Uptake of the boosters has been quite low, meaning that over time the current high levels of protection will dissipate. During the COVID-19 pandemic, at-home antigen tests became widely accepted for detecting infection. In a new joint study by the George Washington University, the University of North Carolina, and others, researchers looked into the benefits of using at-home antibody tests to detect immunity and to make decisions about the need for a COVID-19 booster shot - something ...

Sweetpotato’s sweet revenge

Sweetpotato’s sweet revenge
2024-06-12
Sweetpotato black rot is a devastating disease caused by the fungus Ceratocystis fimbriata. Since the late 1800s, black rot of sweetpotato has threatened to destroy as much as 30% of the sweetpotato crop in the United States. In 2015, all sweetpotato-producing states in the United States experienced one of the worst outbreaks recorded in history, with up to 60% losses reported. While fungicides can help manage the disease, they are not a sustainable solution, especially with volatile restrictions on fungicide residues among major export markets. An additional ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Scientists discover a secret to regulating our body clock, offering new approach to end jet lag

Impact of pollutants on pollinators, and how neural circuits adapt to temperature changes

Researchers seek to improve advanced pain management using AI for drug discovery

‘Neutron Nexus’ brings universities, ORNL together to advance science

Early release from NEJM Evidence

UMass Amherst astronomer leads science team helping to develop billion-dollar NASA satellite mission concept

Cultivating global engagement in bioengineering education to train students skills in biomedical device design and innovation

Life on Earth was more diverse than classical theory suggests 800 million years ago, a Brazilian study shows

International clean energy initiative launches global biomass resource assessment

How much do avoidable deaths impact the economy?

Federal government may be paying twice for care of veterans enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans

New therapeutic target for cardiac arrhythmias emerges

UC Irvine researchers are first to reveal role of ophthalmic acid in motor function control

Moffitt study unveils the role of gamma-delta T cells in cancer immunology

Drier winter habitat impacts songbirds’ ability to survive migration

Donors enable 445 TPDA awards to Neuroscience 2024

Gut bacteria engineered to act as tumor GPS for immunotherapies

Are auditory magic tricks possible for a blind audience?

Research points to potential new treatment for aggressive prostate cancer subtype

Studies examine growing US mental health safety net

Social risk factor domains and preventive care services in US adults

Online medication abortion direct-to-patient fulfillment before and after the Dobbs v Jackson decision

Black, Hispanic, and American Indian adolescents likelier than white adolescents to be tested for drugs, alcohol at pediatric trauma centers

Pterosaurs needed feet on the ground to become giants

Scientists uncover auditory “sixth sense” in geckos

Almost half of persons who inject drugs (PWID) with endocarditis will die within five years; women are disproportionately affected

Experimental blood test improves early detection of pancreatic cancer

Groundbreaking wastewater treatment research led by Oxford Brookes targets global challenge of toxic ‘forever chemicals’

Jefferson Health awarded $2.4 million in PCORI funding

Cilta-cel found highly effective in first real-world study

[Press-News.org] NSF CAREER grant to investigate design of fluorescent protein sensors with computer simulations that may aid human health and disease