Assistant Professor Carlos Baiz and Professor Richard Aldrich (Department of Neuroscience) are recipients of the CNS Catalyst Grant for their project, "Investigating Protein Conformational Dynamics with IR Spectroscopy."
The purpose of this project is to study protein conformational changes induced by ion binding. Ultrafast 2D IR spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulations will be used to capture bond-by-bond “snapshots” of protein conformations with extremely fast time resolution, thus measuring molecular motion that is “blurred out” by conventional experimental techniques. The project combines the biochemistry expertise of Aldrich’s group and the time-resolved spectroscopy capabilities of Baiz's group.
CNS Catalyst Grants are a College of Natural Sciences internal funding mechanism meant to inspire interdisciplinary research collaborations that will seed efforts for securing external funding.