Description:
Princeton Docket #
10-2609
Researchers
at the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University
have developed a novel method for computing information about a protein¿s
preferred three-dimensional structure from its amino acid sequence. Using
a simple set of assumptions, the method utilizes the pattern of hydrophobicity
in the protein¿s sequence to calculate the optimal and nearly optimal structures
for that sequence in seconds. This information may be utilized as a
guidance system for many applications, including targeted drug design. The
method may also be used in the detection of allosteric coupling and the
detection of structural instability. In the case of targeted drug design, the
method will allow for the identification of regions on a protein that are
strongly coupled conformationally to another region of interest. Drugs may be
designed based on results to target one part of the protein with the aim of
allosterically disrupting the other part. It is also possible that this method
may allow one to predict the effects of phosphorylation or other covalent
modifications of proteins or to design new proteins of novel structure for
industrial or medical purposes.
Applications
·
Allosteric
coupling prediction for targeted drug design
·
Structural
instability prediction
·
Effect
prediction of phosphorylation or other covalent modifications of
proteins
·
Novel
protein structure design
Advantages
·
Fast
computation
·
Allosteric
coupling prediction as transformative new capability
Publication
England
JL. Allostery in protein domains reflects a balance of steric and hydrophobic
effects. Structure.
2011 Jul 13;19(7):967-75.
Inventor
Jeremy
England is Assistant
Professor of Physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Before his
appointment in MIT, he was a lecturer and research fellow at Princeton
University. Dr. England's research
is directed towards understanding the patterns of organization in space and time
that form the basis of life at the molecular level.
Intellectual
Property status
Patent
protection is pending.