Molecular & Cell Biophysics Lab Special Topics

This page is devoted to the four students who are fulfilling a laboratory requirement in Physical Chemistry by appending this half credit course to their senior year.  We have decided to use Tuesday afternoons from 2:30-5:30 to explore the physical properties of the Protein crystallein.  We will start by reading reviews about this unusual lens protein which is in very high concentration in the eye, but in its normal state, stays very soluble and well behaved.  As we age, the proteins can aggregate and contribute to cataract formation.  Our initial plans are to look at some fluorescence denaturation curves and then to do some viscosity assays to characterize the wild type protein.