{"id":155381,"date":"2022-02-14T11:30:45","date_gmt":"2022-02-14T21:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=155381"},"modified":"2022-02-14T11:30:45","modified_gmt":"2022-02-14T21:30:45","slug":"pierced-lasso-topology-grant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2022\/02\/14\/pierced-lasso-topology-grant\/","title":{"rendered":"$670K<\/abbr> boost to study proteins involved in obesity, skin cancer, tuberculosis, more"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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Department of Chemistry Assistant Professor Ellinor Haglund’s research group<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa scientist recently discovered a protein topology that has implications for human health, earning a five-year, $670,600 grant from the National Science Foundation<\/a> (NSF<\/abbr>).<\/p>\n

According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, “The topology of a protein structure is a highly simplified description of its fold including only the sequence of secondary structure elements, and their relative spatial positions and approximate orientations.” The NSF<\/abbr> CAREER award, presented to Department of Chemistry<\/a> Assistant Professor Ellinor Haglund<\/strong>, will advance research into the Pierced Lasso Topology (PLT<\/abbr>), which was discovered by Haglund within the past decade.<\/p>\n

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“PLT<\/abbr>s are found in many human cell-signaling proteins, bacterial and viral proteins important in human health,” Haglund said. “Interestingly, oxidative stress, inflammation and gut microbiota may affect the chemical environment controlling the threaded topology. Thus, PLT<\/abbr> proteins may act as molecular switches turning the activity on\/off depending on the chemical environment. Understanding how biology may manipulate protein topologies and function may have a large impact on human health such as diabetes, amyolateral sclerosis (ALS<\/abbr>), and Alzheimer’s disease, to mention a few, controlled by PLT<\/abbr> containing proteins.”<\/p>\n

This funded research will delve deeper into the biological role of PLT<\/abbr> proteins. Haglund\u2019s research team is the world\u2019s first group focusing on PLT<\/abbr>s. To conduct the research, they will use biochemical and biophysical methods combined with cell biology, revealing how PLT<\/abbr> proteins thread and fold to reach their biologically active states. Haglund and graduate student Jennifer M. Simien<\/strong> concluded that PLT<\/abbr>s were created in nature to control biological activity and possibly to protect against the degradation of proteins within living organisms.<\/p>\n

Read this UH<\/abbr> News<\/em> story to discover the connection PLT<\/abbr>s have with everyday objects, such as belts, crochet and lifting straps<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This work is an example of UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa\u2019s goal of Excellence in Research: Advancing the Research and Creative Work Enterprise<\/a> (PDF<\/abbr><\/span>), one of four goals identified in the 2015–25 Â鶹´«Ã½<\/a> (PDF<\/abbr><\/span>), updated in December 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PLT<\/abbr>s were created in nature to control biological activity and possibly to protect against the degradation of proteins within living organisms. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[251,308,598,1467,1363,568,9],"class_list":["post-155381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-chemistry","tag-college-of-natural-sciences","tag-faculty-recognition","tag-manoa-excellence-in-research","tag-manoa-research","tag-natural-science","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t