Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference:	GR/T09224/01
Title:	Development of linear dichroism into a structural tool for characterisation of polymeric fibres particularly peptides and proteins
Principal Investigator:	Rodger, Professor A
Other Investigators:	Dafforn, Professor T Woolfson, Professor DN Hirst, Professor J
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Department:	Chemistry
Organisation:	University of Warwick
Scheme:	Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts:	31 March 2005	Ends:	29 September 2008	Value (£):	345,468
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:	Analytical Science Chemical Biology Protein chemistry
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:	Healthcare Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology
Related Grants:
Panel History:	Panel Date Panel Name Outcome 05 May 2004 Chemistry Prioritisation Panel (Science) Deferred
Summary on Grant Application Form
Linear dichroism (LD) is a differential polarized spectroscopy technique in which the molecules in a sample are oriented and then the difference in absorption of perpendicular polarisation of light is determined. It gives information about the orientation of electronic transition moments with respect to the orientation axis which in turn gives us structural information about the relative orientations of sub-units of the system. Flow orientation is well established for long fairly rigid polymeric systems, but is not widely used due mainly to the non-routine nature of the experiment and lack of availability of couette cells.In this work, we propose to flow orient long polymeric systems in our newly developed capillary couette flow cells (whose significant advantage over previous cells is that sample volume is minimised) and develop LD into a technique that can be used by scientists studying polymeric and fibrous systems who are not experts in LD. The team collaborating on this grant undertook proof of concept work during a Life Sciences Interface Network Grant and will take an approach that is a combination of experiment and theory. The experimental programme will involve collecting data on systems of known monomeric structures including designed peptide fibres and fibrous proteins. These data will be used as input into a theoretical programme that will involve developing an LD calculation protocol analogous to that previously developed for circular dichroism. The experimental work will also focus on finding internal orientation calibration standards as an unknown orientation factor is a major hindrance to quantitative structural interpretation of LD data.
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Organisation Website:	http://www.warwick.ac.uk