Protein engineering

In this course important methods and techniques (both molecular-biological and chemical) will be discussed that can be used to develop new proteins with new and biomedically attractive properties. The course starts with a renewed introduction to protein structure, followed by some analytical techniques that are important for protein characterization (cicrcular dichrosim, mass spectrometry, X-ray, and NMR). After this general introduction the following subjects will be treated:

• biological synthesis of proteins (recombinant expression systems, use of affinity tags)
• chemical synthesis of peptides and proteins
• chemical modifications of proteins, non-natural amino acids
• protein folding
• rational design of new proteins (strategy, site-directed mutagenesis, chimeric proteins)
• directed evolution and high-throughput library screening

All techniques will be illustrated by giving examples of applications. No specific book is used in this course. The general Biochemistry textbook will be used to treat general aspects of protein chemistry. For specific subjects, review papers will be handed-out. An important part of the course is a seminar that will be organized at the end of the course. In this seminar students will present recent papers on new development in protein engineering and discuss their strengths and weaknesses.

Proteins are a remarkably versatile class of macromolecules. Enzymes consititute very efficient catalysts for example, but proteins are also involved in molecular recognition (e.g. antibodies) and they form the basis of materials with attractive material properties (collagen, silk).

You must meet the following requirements

• Completed Final examination Bsc program