University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Computational characterization of membrane proteins at the atomic level

Wang, Yuhang

Content Files
WANG-DISSERTATION-2017.pdf

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/99496

Description

Title
Computational characterization of membrane proteins at the atomic level
Author(s)
Wang, Yuhang
Issue Date
2017-11-30
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Tajkhorshid, Emad
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Tajkhorshid, Emad
Committee Member(s)
  • Gennis, Robert B.
  • Grosman, Claudio
  • Ferguson, Andrew L.
Department of Study
School of Molecular & Cell Bio
Discipline
Biophysics & Computnl Biology
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Date of Ingest
2018-03-13T17:35:37Z
Keyword(s)
membrane proteins, molecular dynamics, atomic level
Abstract
Membrane proteins are proteins either embedded or located at the peripheral of the biological membrane. The functions of membrane proteins include importing/exporting ions/small molecules into/output of the cell, cellular signaling, cell-cell interactions, etc. Molecular dynamics is a powerful computational tool that can provide an atomic level description of the dynamic interactions between molecules. During my Ph.D., I have studied several membrane proteins, including a membrane transporter (BetP), three ligand-gated ion channels (AMPA receptor, Glycine receptor, and GLIC), and a membrane signaling protein (human T-cell receptor). In these projects, I have uncovered key aspects of the functional mechanism of these proteins, such as active substrate transport, ion permeation, and antigen recognition. In addition, I have developed a new computational methodology for modeling the membrane protein-detergent micelles. I strongly believe that an atomic-level understanding of membrane proteins is essential to meet the challenges in biomedicine.
Graduation Semester
2017-12
Type of Resource
text
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/99496
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2017 Yuhang Wang

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