We’re delighted to announce that we will be exploring research from the lab of Dr. Christine Dunham, who has received the ASBMB Young Investigator Award. We’re excited about the opportunity to work with Dr. Dunham’s lab for a number of reasons:
- Her research topic(s) range from core curricular topics (protein synthesis, antibiotic resistance) to more advanced topics (regulation of protein synthesis in response to various types of stress) – topics relevant for both earlycareer and upper level undergraduates!
- The lab employs a range of interdisciplinary approaches in structural biology, biochemistry and molecular biology
- Dr. Dunham has LOTS of structures in the PDB from which to choose!!!
- All of her publications are accessible from her website.
- One of her graduate students (Ian Pavelich) worked in the CBM as an undergraduate and knows all things modeling!
Exploring the Ribosome
Check out this video in which Tim and Margaret explore various ribosome models.
Dr. Dunham talks about her research, her career path and more!
Check out the video that Dr. Dunham and Ian made here.
Suggested Approach
Start exploring background information to narrow your research focus!
Background Reading- You might want to start by exploring (comparing) information about translation from various textbooks (intro bio, genetics, cell biology, biochemistry)
- To get a more in depth view of translation, you might tackle an article or two in Trends in Biochemical Sciences, August 2017, a special issue on ribosomes and translation.
- It might be an interesting discussion to compare the depth of the “facts” in the textbook with those in current research articles!
- Another discussion might involve comparing prokaryotic and eukaryotic processes – and why/whether it is of value to study prokaryotic systems
- With this background information, you should be ready to tackle some of the Dunham lab articles. Some of the articles list the associated pdb files, either on the first or last page or in the figure legends. If you can’t find the pdb files listed in the article, search the Protein Databank for the first author. Structures are listed in order of deposit, with the most recent at the top. Look for the primary citation that matches your paper to find associated pdb files. Pick a topic that intrigues you and start exploring.
- If you want to explore the stringent response (bacteria under stress), here’s a good review from Trends in Microbiology
For those of you who have worked with Jmol in the past, there will be a few twists and turns in this year’s project. If your team chooses to work with a model of the ribosome, there will be a few extra steps in handling the large data files for such a large structure. It’s an opportunity to expand your horizons and pick up a few more tools in your molecular visualization toolkit. Once you have narrowed down which PDB file you want to use, the molecular story you want to tell, and what you want to include in your model, please contact crestprogram@gmail.com to set up a Zoom meeting with your team to discuss your model design.