Abstract: The hydration and interactions of complex molecules, such as dendrimers, drugs, peptides, and proteins, which display chemical and topographical heterogeneity at the nanoscale, play a central role in numerous phenomena, ranging from aqueous supramolecular chemistry to biomolecular recognition. All aqueous assembly involves solute-water interactions being disrupted and replaced by direct interactions between the binding partners. Consequently, protein-water interactions play a crucial role in protein stability and phase behavior, as well as the thermodynamics and kinetics of protein interactions. However, as illustrated by recent work from our group and others, accurately characterizing protein-water interactions is challenging, because proteins have incredibly complex surfaces that disrupt the inherent structure of water in countless different ways, which depend not only on the chemistry of the underlying protein surface, but also on the precise topography and chemical pattern of amino acids. In this presentation, I will discuss our recent successes in quantitatively characterizing the disruption of water structure in the hydration shell of proteins, and in using this information to predict the interfaces through which proteins interact with one another and self-assemble. Our approach also informs strategies for optimally modulating protein interactions, and facilitates the design of ligands that will bind to proteins of interest with high affinity and specificity. We hope that these advances will pave the way for the discovery of novel therapeutics that specifically target proteins of interest, and the rational design chromatographic ligands for challenging protein separations.
Biography: Amish Patel, Professor in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, received a bachelor’s in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology – Bombay in 2001 and a doctorate in Chemical Engineering, from the University of California – Berkeley in 2007. His research strives to achieve a molecular-level understanding of solvation and transport in aqueous and polymeric systems, with applications ranging from predicting protein interactions to designing advanced materials for water purification and renewable energy. To study these biological, nanoscopic, and polymeric systems, the Patel group uses statistical mechanics and liquid state theory in conjunction with the development and use of novel molecular simulation and data science techniques. For his research and teaching, Amish has been awarded the Sloan Research Fellowship in Chemistry; the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar award; the van Ness Lectureship from the Chemical and Biological Engineering department at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; the Helmholtz award from the International Association for the Properties of Water and Steam; and University of Pennsylvania’s Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching.
