147 Delaware Biotechnology Institute
(302) 831-4687

berger@che.udel.edu

personal website

Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, 2005                                        University of Delaware B.S. Chemical Engineering, 1999                                           University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Protein – surfactant solution thermodynamics: applications to integral membrane protein crystallization

Co-advisor: Prof. Abraham Lenhoff

With the advent of the human genome project, it is estimated that nearly one-third of the genes identified will encode for membrane proteins. As this is translated into structural genomic efforts, the rate at which this genetic information accumulates is expected to increase dramatically. However, structural information concerning membrane proteins lags far behind that of their water-soluble counterparts, as evidenced by the few structures currently available in the Brookhaven Protein Data Bank. Given that these proteins mediate most enzymatic, signaling and transport functions associated with the membrane, there is a clear need to characterize their structural biology in order to understand their associated cellular functions. This project focuses on the structure, function and assembly of membrane proteins in a micellar environment with emphasis on characterizing membrane protein – surfactant interactions relevant to crystallization.