Presenters:

Uei-Ming Jow - Advisor, Maysam Ghovanloo

"EnerCage: A Smart Bio-Instrument for Wireless Power and Data Transmission to Devices Attached to Small Freely Behaving Animal Subjects"

We are developing a novel wireless biological data acquisition system from small freely behaving animals for long-term experiments in large experimental arenas. This system, called EnerCage, is designed for both wireless power and data transmission to a backpack, headstage, or implant on/in the body of animals, which may have difficulty in carrying bulky instrumentation either hardwired or battery-powered.

Derrick Watkins, Postdoc - Advisor, Raquel Lieberman

"Working Toward the De Novo Structure Determination of 5-Nitroanthranilic Acid Deaminase by Single Crystal X-ray Crystallography"

The initial step in the biodegradation of 5-nitroanthranilic acid (5NAA) is catalyzed by the novel enzyme 5NAA deaminase. While it was recently determined that this step involves the hydrolytic removal of an amino group, the lack of structural data available for 5NAA deaminase makes the full mechanism elusive. This talk will describe the progress made toward the structure determination of 5NAA deaminase, and provide an overview of the steps used for solving the structure of a de novo protein by macromolecular x-ray crystallography.

The Graduate and Post-Doc (GaP) Seminar Series is a weekly event of biotechnology related research presentations by two graduate students or post-docs of IBB and is co-sponsored by BME. It is held every Wednesday at 12:00pm in IBB 1128 and refreshments are provided. If your research group or department would like to present at future seminars, please contact Manu Platt, PhD at manu.platt@bme.gatech.edu.