Proteins under investigation

Proteins are the most common molecules found in cells. In fact, they constitute more of a cell’s dry matter than lipids, carbohydrates and all other molecules combined. Proteins come in a huge variety of forms and perform a wide range of functions. Examples of proteins include enzymes, antibodies and some hormones, which help to speed up chemical reactions, defend against diseases and regulate the activity of cells. Their function depends on their structure, chemical and physical properties as well as their abundance in specific tissues.

Selection of Proteins
In this project students will investigate structure, function, tissue specificity and disease association for selected proteins. Proteins can be selected based on known disease associations or experimental results. We also encourage students to come up with their own suggestions.

Analysis
Following aspects of the proteins will be investigated:

• Protein Structure: primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary.
• Effects of genetic variations on the protein structure
• Splice variants
• Protein Domain conservation
• Protein Function or functional predicted function
• Tissue abundance (Tissue specificity)
• Disease associations

Link to other projects
This project is part of a multi-layered system biology approach to study human genes, proteins and their functions. Students will investigate the molecules of interest on the DNA level (“Are you being conserved: sequence analysis of candidate genes identified in hereditary disorders”, ID:3708), the protein level (“Proteins under investigation”, ID:3709) or the functional interactome level (“Connecting the dots: constructing interaction networks of candidate disease genes ”, ID:3710).