BCB at ISU- Speaker Information

Jo Etzel

Bioinformatics & Computational Biology Student Seminar Series

Psychophysiology and Bioinformatics: an Introduction

Jo Etzel
Major professors: Julie Dickerson (ISU ECpE Dept) and Ralph Adolphs (U of Iowa Cognitive Neuroscience and Behavioral Neurology)
BS in Forestry, minors in math and psychology, ISU
Programmer at ABCV, Des Moines
BCB major
Iowa State University Friday, April 12, 2002
1:10 p.m.
1420 Molecular Biology Building

Abstract
Psychophysiology, the study of the physiological responses associated with thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, is not a field that we have often heard mentioned in the same breath as bioinformatics. Much research focused on understanding human brain structure and function is currently underway, and bioinformatics data analysis techniques may be of aid in this work. I will provide a brief introduction to the field of psychophysiology, describe the research I am involved with at the University of Iowa, and discuss how bioinformatics may be useful in this research.

Yingchun Wang

Bioinformatics & Computational Biology Student Seminar Series

Proteomic study of thylakoid membrane proteins of Synechocystis sp. PCC6803

Yingchun Wang
Major Professors: Dr. Chitnis and Dr. Kothari
BS Ecology and Environmental Biology, Lanzhou University, China
MS in Genetics, Institute of Genetics, Chinese Academy of Science.
BCB and Genetics major
Iowa State University Friday, April 12, 2002
1:10 p.m.
1420 Molecular Biology Building

Abstract
Membrane proteins play crucial roles in many metabolic pathways, such as the electron transport proteins in photosynthesis and respiration electron transport chain. However, the study of membrane proteins has lagged behind of that of cytoplasmic proteins because of their insolubility and refractory to aqueous solutions. To perform the functional study of membrane proteins at a global level, we use approaches in proteomics and computational biology to study the whole proteome of thylakoid proteome of Synechocystis sp. PCC6803. We have extracted membrane proteins into integral and peripheral fractions, proteins from each fraction were resolved onto 2-D gels with different pH range. With the help of MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, we have identified several hundreds of protein spots that are encoded by 120 individual genes. The topologies of these identified proteins have also been predicted with a computer software TMpred. All of the information of the thylakoid proteome will be included in a database that specifically constructed for membrane proteins