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Evolutionary History of a Protein Family

2017-9-15

Project: Evolutionary History of a Protein Family

Project Content:
As part of this project, the student explores both the theoretical and a practical perspective of molecular biology and bioinformatics. From the theoretical perspective, the student is expected to deepen their understanding of key principles in molecular biology such as protein translation, the genetic code, protein structures, protein evolution, and enzyme function. On the practical side, the student will have a chance to work with online resources such as protein and sequence databases (UniProt, InterPro etc.), structural biology resources (PDB), and graphical user interfaces for assessing structural and sequence data. Finally, the project will provide the student with an opportunity complete a literature search and analysis, learning to collate and analyze information in cutting-edge publications. The deliverable for this project consists of an analysis of aaRS protein family evolutionary history using information collated from previously published research and easily accessible up-to-date protein databases. Such detailed analyses have the potential to be integrated with further structural and evolutionary analysis of protein families.

Project Purpose:
The focus of this project is on exposing the student to a variety of topics in molecular biology, most critically, the ubiquitous and crucial protein family. As part of this, applied skills in working with published literature and biological databases will be developed, and the project deliverable gives the opportunity to develop analytical and data presentation skills.

Major:
Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, Bioinformatics, Computational Biology