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Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference: EP/C528336/1
Title: Viscoelastic Single-Biomolecule Spectroscopy: Experiment and Simulation
Principal Investigator: McLeish, Professor T
Other Investigators:
Adolf, Dr D Radford, Professor SE Smith, Professor D A M
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Dr I Neelov
Project Partners:
Department: Physics and Astronomy
Organisation: University of Leeds
Scheme: Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts: 01 June 2005 Ends: 31 May 2008 Value (£): 560,521
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:
Chemical Biology Instrumentation Eng. & Dev.
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:
No relevance to Underpinning Sectors
Related Grants:
Panel History:  
Summary on Grant Application Form
In 2002 we proposed a new frequency-dependent single-molecule force (AFM) spectroscopy, of the response to applied oscillation in force, or the Brownian power spectrum. Theory and simulation were needed to interpret the new method, which is information-rich. A 1-year feasibility study has proved highly successful.We propose now to develop and implement the new technique, tested thoroughly on dextran in the feasibility study, to concatemers of proteins, extracting information on the dynamical exchange between different states at each level of DC force as the molecule stretches or refolds. We will apply both forced oscillations and Brownian power spectra to the proteins 127 (broad transition state) and Protein L (narrow transition state). In the case of 127 the mechanical force will be applied along two different axes of the protein, predicted to give distinct force/displacement curves. We will also continue the investigation of the simpler kinetics of sugar-based biopolymers as controls. Both the analytic models and simulations we have devised will be developed alongside the experiments to interpret the data, suggest new experiments, and relate results to recent models of protein folding.
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Organisation Website: http://www.leeds.ac.uk