Undergraduate involvement in research Neer R. Asherie , Yeshiva University, DMR 0901260

1. Precipitant Chirality and Protein CrystallizationNeer R. Asherie, Yeshiva University, DMR 0901260 Our long-term goal is to make it possible to predict the phase behavior of protein solutions and to learn to control protein self-assembly. We are currently focusing on a discovery made in our laboratory: the chirality of precipitants can alter the crystallization of globular proteins. When the protein ribonuclease A is crystallized with a racemic mixture of the chiral molecules (R)- and (S)-MPD, only (S)-MPD is found in the protein crystal, demonstrating that there is a preferential interaction between the chiral protein and one of the chiral precipitants.

2. Undergraduate involvement in research Neer R. Asherie, Yeshiva University, DMR 0901260 Undergraduates are an essential part of research at an RUI institution. The Asherie research group consists of several undergraduates who work together with the PI in the lab. Mark Stauber (left), an undergraduate researcher in the Asherie lab for three years, received an NSF Graduate Fellowship and will be pursuing a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University. The most recent poster presentation by an undergraduate student in the lab is shown above (undergraduate co-authors are denoted with an asterisk): “The Effect of Chiral additives on Protein Crystallization,” M. Stauber*, J. Jakoncic, J. Berger*, A. Axelbaum*, J. Karp*, N. Asherie, American Chemical Society, 243rd National Meeting, San Diego, CA, March 2012.