BIOL-UA 926 (2024-2025 Spring)
Course: BIOL-UA 926 Advanced Research: Modern Methods in Protein Research: Advanced Research: Modern Methods in Protein Research
Course description:
In this course students will be involved in a semester-long project studying Outer surface protein C (OspC) from the Lyme disease bacterial pathogen Borrelia burgdorferi. Osp C is a lipoprotein essential for the survival (infectivity) of the pathogen after its introduction into the skin of vertebrate hosts, including humans, via tick bite, but its molecular function remains unknown. Osp C is also one of the most variable proteins in Borrelia with more than 30 genetic variants throughout the bacterial population. However, the role of the different variants is not well understood. The goal of the course is for students to gain hands-on research experience in methods used in modern laboratories working with recombinant proteins. During the semester students will express wild-type and mutagenized variants of recombinant OspC. The recombinant proteins will be purified by affinity chromatography and quantified by densitometry. Purified proteins will be used in several assays including pull-down, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and fluorescent assay to characterize and quantify OspC interactions with other proteins and with small ligand molecules. Students will use regression analysis to fit putative binding models to the obtained data, then present and discuss the results. The findings of the study can contribute to better understanding of OspC function.