Title: Dynamic ions on proteins and membranes

Speaker: Dr. Ran Friedman，Linnæus University

Date/Time:  10:00 AM, Nov. 6, 2018

Location: Room 202, Lujiaxi Building

Abstract:

Biological macromolecules need to function in a physiological environment that includes not only water but also ions such as Na⁺, K⁺ and Cl⁻. Other ions, such as Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺ and Zn²⁺ are important for biological regulation, catalysis and for maintaining the protein structure. To understand the biological roles of these ions, it is important to study their dynamics in the biological context - how they bind proteins, move along the protein or membrane surface, and adopt new configurations during catalysis. Quite often, this is difficult or even impossible to be studied by experiments. Computational methods can be very useful in this regards, but limitations in accuracy or scale may limit their usability. In this talk, I will describe some simulation studies where the dynamics of ions were followed, or when their binding preferences were estimated in a biological context.