Guest Editors
Huawei Zhang
Southern University of Science and Technology, Department of Biomedical Engineering
Dr. Huawei Zhang is currently an associate investigator in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology. Using structural biology, especially cryo-EM, as a tool, he aims to understand the mechanism of Helicobacter pylori pathogenesis, the biogenesis of exosomes, and their applications in the diagnosis and treatment of autism and osteoarthritis. He obtained his PhD in 2017 and then did postdoc work at The Chinese University of Hong Kong until 2019. He has made several presentations at international academic conferences and won the Travel Awards. His research has been published in journals such as PNAS, and currently, he holds one project funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC).
Zhifang Li
Southern University of Science and Technology, Department of Biomedical Engineering
Dr. Zhifang Li is a Research Associate in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology. He mainly focuses on the molecular mechanisms of nervous system development and abnormality, including: (1) the regulations of neuron-secreted proteins such as neuroligin2 on microglial cells; (2) the molecular mechanism of autism spectrum disorders; (3) The regulations of neuronal activity on synaptic proteins. He obtained his PhD in 2019 at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and published academic papers in neuroscience.
Collection Overview
Proteins are the foundational building blocks of all life on our planet. Precise modifications and regulations of a protein are often needed to fulfill their complex functions. Studies on protein structure-function relationship and their localizations in temporal and spatial are critical, especially under dynamic conditions, not only to extend our knowledge boundaries of the world but also to provide novel insights into improving human health. State-of-the-art methods such as cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM), super-resolution microscopy, and synthetic biology have emerged recently to accelerate the studies of protein structures, subcellular localization, and functions. In this Methods Collection, we aim to collect those emerging techniques in a video style, including but not limited to protein expression and purification, protein characterization, protein imaging techniques, structure determination and analysis using cryo-EM, Photoactivated Localization Microscopy (PALM), Stochastic Optical Reconstruction Microscopy (STROM), correlative light and electron microscopy (CLEM), protein design and engineering, drug screening to modulate protein function, protein-protein interaction, protein molecular dynamics, phase separation, and synthetic biology, etc. We hope articles in this collection will provide an intuitive and detailed introduction to those techniques and enrich researchers’ toolkits in this field.
Articles
Abstracts
Protein-water H-bond networks in cryo-EM structures of the calcium-calmodulin dependent protein kinase.II
Shahid Khan*1,
Greg Pintille2
1Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.,
2SLAC, Stanford University