Austin Elam

Personal Information

Laboratory:

Vincent J. Hilser

In BMB since (year):

2005, Biophysical, Structural and Computional Biology Program

Biographical Information:

• Undergraduate institution: Rice University
• Undergraduate degree: B.S. Bioengineering

Research Interests

Thesis Project Description:

The process of a polypeptide chain transitioning from a denatured state to a native state is known as protein folding. Levinthal's Paradox suggests that protein folding is not a random process, as exploration of all of conformational space by a polypeptide chain would require a biologically unreasonable amount of time. Circular dichroism spectrapolarimetry experiments and other studies have suggested that the denatured states of polypeptides may comprise a smaller conformational space than previously thought, and that the polyproline II (PII) helix is one of the conformations that is highly populated in the denatured state. Src-homology 3 (SH3) is a modular domain that recognizes and binds peptide in the PII conformation, such as SosY, with high specificity. Our experimental strategy is to use isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) to monitor the binding of SH3 to engineered SosY peptides, enabling the direct detection of ligand population that is in the PII conformation. Mutations will be made at sites on the SosY peptide (P3 and P6) that are solvent exposed in the bound SH3:Sos complex. Importantly, our model system allows direct access to thermodynamic information concerning the context dependent PII propensity of amino acids at P3 and P6 on the SosY peptide and the effects of naturally occurring solvent systems on SH3:Sos peptide binding.

Career Goals:

My short term goals consist of completing my thesis project introduced above and acquiring a post-doctoral fellowship. My long term career goals involve a shift back into bioengineering where I plan to employ my biophysical training and knowledge to problems in tissue engineering of the peripheral and central nervous system. I am also interested in understanding how protein biophysical calamities such as protein misfolding (as in prion) or protein aggregation (as in amyloid beta and tau) affect disease at the cellular/tissue levels.

About me

• Interests outside of lab: Sports, Board games, Literature, Philosophy
• Random facts about me: Scorpio, likes long walks on the beach, pina coladas, and getting caught in the rain

Grants/Awards

• Texas Space Grant Consortium Fellowship 2007-2008, 2008-2009
• Biological Chemistry Student Organization (BCSO) Student Award 2008
• Barbara Bowman Memorial Award for Research Excellence 2008
• Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Dean's Service Travel Award 2008
• John S. Dunn Magnetic Resonance Conference Poster Award 2008
• University Federal Credit Union Graduate Student Organization (GSO) Student Award 2007

Curriculum Vitae

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