3/21: Science Seminar Series–Structural Dynamics And Therapeutic Insights: Caveolin-1 Membrane Topology and Bone Marrow Aspirate Proteomics

/ March 17, 2025/ Faculty, Staff, Students

Please join us on Friday, March 21, at 3PM in the Hurd auditorium for our upcoming Science Seminar Series: “Structural dynamics and therapeutic insights: Caveolin-1 membrane topology and bone marrow aspirate proteomics.” Guest speakers will include Katrina Brandmier ’20 and Colin Herna ’20, both Ph.D. candidates at Lehigh University.

The lecture will include:

Part 1–Membrane Topology:

  • Understanding the structure of membrane proteins is vital for gaining insights into their functions in cellular processes. Caveolin-1 is a tightly bound membrane protein that plays a critical role in signal transduction and membrane organization. Due to the challenges associated with crystallizing membrane proteins, high-resolution structural details of Cav-1 in a native environment remain elusive. Förster Resonance Energy Transfer can be utilized to measure intrahelical distances within Cav-1 through site-specific fluorescent labeling. This part of the seminar will focus on finding those interhelical distances and coupling them with computational models to provide a comprehensive understanding of the membrane topology of Cav-1.

Part 2–Bone Marrow Aspirate Proteomics:

  • Bone marrow aspirate concentrate is a biological injectable derived from a patient’s bone marrow, rich in anti-inflammatory proteins, growth factors which aid in tissue repair, and progenitor cells (precursors to specialized cells). Despite its clinical use in treating orthopedic and musculoskeletal conditions, both as a standalone therapy and in tandem with other treatments, the therapeutic role of BMAC’s protein component remains unclear. This gap directly limits our ability to maximize BMAC’s therapeutic clinical potential. Our work looks to address this gap by leveraging statistical and machine learning models to uncover biologically relevant patterns within the BMAC proteome.
  • This portion of the seminar will guide students through two phases of our research:
    • Dataset construction:
      • How we collect, process, and prepare complex biological data for analysis.
    • Data analysis:
      • Apply a framework for using statistics and machine learning such that students can see the broader application in their works.

All are welcome to attend.

Questions? natural.science@desales.edu