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SUMMARY:Computational Design and Engineering of Ligand Binding Proteins
LOCATION:Biology 136
TZID:America/Denver
DTSTART:20241105T160000
UID:2026-04-20-13-34-16@natsci.colostate.edu
DTSTAMP:20260420T133416
Description:Please join us for a seminar with University of Colorado\, Boul
 der\\'s Dr. Tim Whitehead on Tuesday\, November 5th at 4pm in Biology 136.
  Snacks and drinks will be provided!\nAbstract\nThe design of new protein-
 ligand binding interactions\, particularly for complex drug-like molecules
 \, is an unsolved problem which could enable many practical applications. 
 My group takes on the inverse problem of traditional drug design in that w
 e redesign existing proteins to bind known small molecule metabolites or d
 rugs. For this lecture I will discuss two relevant examples from my group.
  In the first part\, I discuss the challenge of designing post-translation
 al control of enzymes. Natural systems use extensive control of enzymes po
 st-translationally to control metabolic flux on relevant timescales of sec
 onds. Existing literature examples of engineering similar control into pro
 teins are scant. We redesigned T7 RNA polymerase to be activated in respon
 se to indole using a chemical recovery of structure approach first describ
 ed by Matthews1. After directed evolution\, these redesigned RNA polymeras
 es have minimal activity in the absence of indole and activate potently. W
 e demonstrate control of gene expression exogenously\, endogenously\, in a
  co-culture\, and show indole-dependent bacteriophage viability. For the s
 econd part of my talk\, I will describe the computational redesign of a na
 tural chemically induced dimerization system based on a plant hormone rece
 ptor2.This plant hormone receptor naturally binds to abscisic acid but can
  be repurposed to bind many different classes of molecules\, including can
 nabinoids\, organophosphates\, nitazenes\, and ergine (d-lysergic acid ami
 de). In this talk I will highlight the design and engineering of specific 
 in vitro POC diagnostics for synthetic opioids.\n\nFollow us on social med
 ia for more announcements from Biology.\n\n 	Instagram: @csubio\n 	Twitter
 /X: @csubiology\n 	Facebook: Department of Biology at Colorado State Unive
 rsity\n\nWe look forward to seeing you there!\n\n 4:00 pm
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