Research Seminar Speaker Series: Dr. Jim Sterling – “Biological Macromolecules and the Art of Managing Salt and Water “

Please join us for our Research Seminar Speaker Series with our own KGI Dr. Jim Sterling, Professor and PhD Program Director, Henry E. Riggs School of Applied Life Sciences

Life’s building blocks are managed genetically by the coding of proteins that pack, unpack, and decorate the nucleic acids, other proteins, lipids, and glycans which interact to collectively manage all of life’s functions. In this talk, we present some important biophysical mechanisms by which all of these biomolecules interact by focusing on cell-surface glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) as a case study. GAGs are macromolecular sugars that coat the cell surfaces of all animals and serve as important components of the extracellular matrix. They are negatively charged and serve as a barrier to cellular entry by pathogens and an important component of innate immunity.  Here, we present the results of all-atom molecular dynamic simulations of hyaluronic acid and oversulfated heparin and discuss the nature of the intrinsic disorder, hydration, and ion exchange that enforce electroneutrality. The nature of ion-specific pairing is emphasized with attention to the role of the oxyanions phosphate and sulfate and their pairing with cations, from sodium and potassium to arginine and lysine. 

Date: Friday, October 29, 2021

Time: 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.

Location: 535 Bldg. – 109 Classroom and Zoom (See Outlook invite for this talk for Zoom link)