Overview
Title: The Evolutionary Design of Proteins
Abstract: Proteins can fold spontaneously into well-defined three-dimensional structures and can carry out complex biochemical reactions such as binding, catalysis, and long-range information transfer. The precision required for these properties is achieved while also preserving evolvability – the capacity to adapt in response to fluctuating selection pressures in the environment. What is the basic design of proteins that supports all of these properties? Going beyond direct physical analysis, statistical analysis of genome sequences have, in recent years, provided a powerful and general approach to this problem. Using different methodologies, this approach has exposed direct structural contacts and collective functional modes within proteins, and has yielded generative models for protein design. In this talk, I will discuss these advances and will present approaches for probing the physical mechanisms implied by the evolution-based models. An important aspect is to understand how such mechanisms may be constrained by and originate from the dynamics of the evolutionary process. This work represents a step towards a theory for the physics of proteins that is consistent with evolution.
Rama Ranganathan, M.D. Ph.D. is a Joseph Regenstein Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, and the College at the University of Chicago. Rama’s research has focused on understanding the basic principles of structure, function, and evolution in biological systems, particularly emphasizing the atomic and cellular scale. His work has led to new models for the architecture of natural proteins and new experimental tools for studying the physics and evolution of proteins and cellular systems. He leads the University of Chicago Center for Physics of Evolving Systems. He is the director of BioCARS beamline, a national user facility for structural biology at the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory.
The NSF-Simons National Institute for Theory and Mathematics in Biology Seminar Series aims to bring together a mix of mathematicians and biologists to foster discussion and collaboration between the two fields. The seminar series will take place on Fridays from 10am – 11am at the NITMB in the John Hancock Center in downtown Chicago. There will be both an in-person and virtual component.
More information: https://www.nitmb.org/nitmb-seminar-series