Blog Post 13: Nano and Proteins

1. Post a brief description (and link) to a general overview of MALDI.


MALDI is short for Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization.  It analyzes proteins, DNA, peptides, sugars, polymers, and much more.  It does so by ionizing the sample by a UV laser, which fragments the building blocks of that sample into smaller pieces that are later analyzed.  Once ionized, the particles are then protonated or deprotonated.  The compounds are then analyzed by measuring their wavelengths.  Each compound or particle has a unique wavelength associated with it, which is it's "fingerprint" so to say.  
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MALDI_imaging
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrix-assisted_laser_desorption_ionization

2. Post an image (3D) of the following proteins: microcystin LR, collagen, and pick another one of your favorite proteins.

Microcysin-LR:

http://www.pdb.org/pdb/explore/explore.do?structureId=1LCM

Collagen:

http://www.123rf.com/photo_8966916_collagen-crystal-structure-molecule-3d-rendering-alpha-channel-added-for-easy-extraction-exact-repre.html

My Favorite Protein: Kinesin

http://www.catenane.net/home/naturepaper2009december.html

http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&biw=1600&bih=775&tbm=isch&tbnid=-jJwoiTUXG_zKM:&imgrefurl=http://course1.winona.edu/sberg/308s01/Lec-note/22-new.htm&docid=kMoTP-XkasEN0M&imgurl=http://course1.winona.edu/sberg/IMAGES/kinesin1.gif&w=460&h=460&ei=AH3tTvWWCOqIsAKWtc28CQ&zoom=1

3. Post the size of each of these proteins in nanometers.
Microcystin-LR - 2.94nm


Collagen- 300nm


Kinesin- 60nm

4. Research and post a cool nano-application that involves proteins.


Nanomotors and research involving biological motors that use proteins to operate can lead us to designing nanobots capable of stopping viruses.  This may also lead to designs of nanobots that use molecular machines that mimic biological motors that use proteins.
To see more visit:

http://www.macroevolution.net/nanomotor.html

A great resource for protein is at the Protein Data Bank at: http://www.pdb.org/pdb/home/home.do