Unusual Fluorescent Proteins: Design and Applications
Guest Speaker: Dr. Konstantin Lukyanov
When: 13:00-14:30; August 15
Where: Vladivostok Auditorium, Skolkovo School of Management
Dr. Konstantin Lukyanov visits Skoltech to present on the use of fluorescent proteins with ‘unusual’ properties in analyzing live cells (lecture in English). Attendance is limited to 20. If you would like to participate, please by August 14. We will be unable to accept more applicants later than 17:00 on August 14, so please be sure to inform her as early as possible.
Seminar Description:
GFP and other fluorescent proteins have become routine instruments for analyzing live cells and organisms and are used in thousands of laboratories every day. However, in addition to such robust applications, there is a demand for advanced sophisticated models where fluorescent proteins with “unusual” spectral or biochemical properties.
The known natural diversity of GFP-like protein family provides a rich source of new fluorescent proteins from marine animals. Besides, directed molecular evolution is successfully used for creating variants of fluorescent proteins never encountered in nature. For example, we developed KillerRed – phototoxic fluorescent proteins capable of light-induced production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Importantly, KillerRed allows light-induced ROS production to be strictly localized to different compartments and subcompartments within a cell. It was shown that KillerRed-mediated oxidative stress at different locations results in clearly different molecular events and cell responses.
Recently, we designed CFP variant with an anionic tryptophan-based chromophore. In contrast to green and red fluorescent proteins usually containing anionic tyrosine-based chromophores, no charged states of the CFP chromophore have been described before. We believe that switching between protonated and deprotonated tryptophan in chromophores of fluorescent proteins represents a new unexplored strategy to control their spectral properties.
Unexpected ability of regular GFPs to act as light-induced electron donors in photochemical reactions with biological electron acceptors has been discovered recently. These reactions have important consequences for practical applications of fluorescent proteins as well as for our understanding of evolution and biology of this amazing protein family.
Guest Speaker:
Konstantin Lukyanov is Head of the Laboratory of Biophotonics at Institute of Bio-organic Chemistry, Moscow, Russia. He graduated from Moscow State University in 1991 and received his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology at the Institute of Bio-organic Chemistry in 1998. Since 1999, he has worked on characterizing diversity and biochemistry of GFP-like proteins and developing methods of their applications for cell and molecular biology. He is the author of more than 70 papers in international journals.
Directions
Skoltech and the Skolkovo School of Management where Skoltech is currently located are easily reachable from Metro Slavyansky Boulevard by taking shuttle buses #523 or #818 to Nemchinovo. Simply ask the drive to stop at the Moskovskaya Shkola Upravleniya (Moscow School of Management) bus stop.
By car:
Before arrival, please review the following map. Parking on the territory is free for the first hour.
Address:
Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology
ul. Novaya, d.100, Karakorum Building, 4th floor
Skolkovo 143025 Russian Federation
