Date/Time
Date(s) - 13/12/2024
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Title: Identification of protein misfolding inhibitors through directed evolution

Date: Friday December 13, 2024

Time: 2:00-3:00pm

Room: ABB A404

Host: Dr. Anthony Rullo

Abstract: 

Protein misfolding is implicated in a wide range of human disorders, thus driving interest in the identification of agents that can inhibit this process. However, misfolding is a multi-step process that involves a range of often poorly-understood species, such as the soluble amyloid oligomers that are implicated in Alzheimer’s Disease, and inhibitors that bind such species are challenging to design. Our group uses directed evolution to find inhibitors of the misfolding and aggregation of disease-associated proteins such as amyloid-?. By designing genetically encoded sensors to detect specific mechanistic steps in the misfolding process, we identify cyclic peptide and proteins that inhibit the initial onset of aggregation or downstream secondary nucleation processes implicated in toxic oligomer generation.

Biography: 

Tina is a native of Rochester, NY and received her B.S. in chemistry at Caltech followed by a PhD at Yale University with David A. Spiegel, where she developed chemical tools to study protein glycation. She then joined David R. Liu’s lab at the Broad Institute for postdoctoral studies, where she developed phage-assisted continuous evolution methods for evolving proteins with improved soluble expression. Tina joined the Department of Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the fall of 2019, where her group applies protein engineering and synthetic biology techniques to tackle challenges in protein misfolding. Her research has been recognized by a NASA Early Career Faculty Award and a NIH Trailblazer Award.