Distinguished Chemistry Alumni Seminar
in Honor of Professor Howell Clark

2005

Dr. Al Beth

Dr. Al Beth and Dr. Howell Clark

Dr. Beth is currently Professor of Physiology and Biophysics at Vanderbilt University

The title of Dr. Beth's talk was "Structure and Dynamics of Membrane Proteins: 30 Years after Chemistry at MSU".

ABSTRACT

Over the past 2+ decades, work in my laboratory has centered on understanding the structure and dynamics of intrinsic membrane proteins. We have been involved in designing and synthesizing new extrinsic probe molecules for fluorescence and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) studies, in developing new computational tools for in-depth analysis of EPR and fluorescence data, and in applications of these reagents and methods to characterize the structure and dynamics of two intrinsic membrane proteins: the anion exchange protein (AE1) in human erythrocytes and the receptor for epidermal growth factor (EGF-R), a cell surface receptor that regulates cell proliferation.

This talk will focus on a subset of studies in the lab that address two different membrane protein structural issues but that use many of the major approaches outlined above. First, the oligomeric structure of AE1 in the intact erythrocyte membrane will be addressed using a combination of EPR and fluorescence/phosphorescence approaches. These studies will show that AE1 exists predominantly as dimers in the crowded environment of the membrane and they will underscore the importance of using complementary methods to unambiguously answer structural questions in complex biological systems. Second, some of the new methods of site directed spin labeling and EPR will be described and utilized to compare the solution structure of the cytoplasmic domain of AE1 with the static crystal structure that was determined under non-physiological conditions. These latter studies will show how spectroscopic approaches like EPR and fluorescence are complementing classical techniques like X-ray crystallography and NMR in modern structural biology.

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Al Beth is currently Professor of Physiology and Biophysics at Vanderbilt University. Dr. Beth received his B.S. in Chemistry at Murray State University and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry at Vanderbilt University. Dr. Beth began as an Assistant Professor in 1981 and today is the Vice Chair of the Department of Physiology and Biophysics and Director of the Chemical and Physical Biology Graduate Program. Dr. Beth has served on advisory panels and boards for the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and numerous other scientific agencies. His research on the biophysics of membrane proteins is currently funded through the NIH and he has 58 publications and 9 book chapters that deal with this important area of protein structure and function.

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Last Modified: April 19, 2005