Event Information
Using Small Molecule to Globally Map Protease Function
- Abstract:
Protease activity is often tightly regulated in both normal and disease conditions. However, it is difficult to monitor the dynamic nature of this regulation in the context of a live cell or whole organism. Our laboratory has developed a series of small molecule fluorescent activity based probes (ABPs) that covalently modify cysteine protease targets using an activity dependant chemical reaction. These reagents freely penetrate cells and can be used to directly image protease activity in live cells and even whole animals. In this talk I will present our recent efforts to apply near infrared fluorescent-ABPs (NIRF-ABPs) to perform non-invasive, whole body imaging studies in various mouse model of human disease. I will also discuss our efforts to use libraries of small molecule protease inhibitors and ABPs to globally map the function of proteases involved in the pathogenesis of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum.
Host: Center for Systems Biology
Departmental Seminar