Project topics: protein structure, function and dynamics

PPS '96

Principles of Protein Structure

Using the Internet

PPS96 Projects: protein structure, function and dynamics

The 3rd term of PPS96 (12th August-25th October 1996) will be spent on student projects which will be written up in html format and mounted on the Web.

Choice of project topic

Unless you have already decided on your topic, we suggest you look at the list of project topics fairly soon so that you can decide what topic you want to work on before the end of the current term (July 12th). When you have decided, please will you email your group tutor to let him/her know your proposed project title.

The project topic list is not intended to be exclusive - some people may already have ideas of other topics they want to work on. Alternatively, you can choose to combine part or all of more than one topic on the list.

Requirements for the project dissertation

The length of your project dissertation will depend partly on the subject matter and how it is presented. For general guidance, we would expect the minimum length to be approximately equivalent to 10 pages of typescript on standard paper, but several of these pages may be taken up by images, tables or other information, instead of text.
An Abstract, List of Contents and References should normally be included.
The dissertation should normally make use of the graphics and Internet facilities and skills relevant to the course.

Note: The nominal academic level of the Advanced Certificate course is equivalent to the final year of a UK B.Sc. (Bachelor's) degree.

You may also find it useful to look at last year's projects on the vsns-pps projects board , some of which are excellent. However, you should bear in mind that these projects were not written as part of an assessed Advanced Certificate course.

Project advisors

Please make use of your group tutor, your group consultants (with his/her agreement) and the course coordinators if you want to discuss any aspect of your project or the choice of a project topic. Nearer the end of the course, we suggest that you ask your tutor to look at and comment on a 'draft' of your project.

In addition, several PPS96 course consultants have offered to act as advisors on particular topics they have an interest in. The following is a list of the topics that people have agreed to advise on. Where the consultant's name is in brackets, it means that he/she would be happy to give some input on this topic but not to be considered the main source of advice on it.

1. Disulphides in protein stability:
Terry Walsh
Marjorie Harding

2. Differences in amino-acid composition of proteins between species:
Terry Walsh
(Sophia Kossida)

3. Amino-acid composition differences between cytosolic and extracellular proteins:
Terry Walsh
(Sophia Kossida)
Marjorie Harding

4. Amino-acid composition variation between classes of protein folds:
Terry Walsh
Marjorie Harding
(Sophia Kossida)

5. Why proline is special:
Terry Walsh

6. The roles of metal(s) in protein(s):
(Terry Walsh)
Marjorie Harding

8. Why glycine is special:
Terry Walsh

9 Phosphorylation:
Terry Walsh

10. Mutations in human diseases:
Clare Sansom
Vineet Gupta
(Terry Walsh)

12. Why cysteine is special:
Terry Walsh

13. Beta-barrels:
Clare Sansom

14. Buried hydrogen-bonds:
Vineet Gupta
Marjorie Harding (and other aspects of hydrogen-bonding)

15. Types of graphical representation of protein structures:
Clare Sansom

17. Protein folding:
Matthias Buck
Mark Bradburn
Janet Thornton

18. The inverse protein-folding problem:
Clare Sansom

19. Secondary structure prediction:
Mark Bradburn

20. The hydrophobic effect:
Vineet Gupta

22. NMR and X-ray diffraction methods of protein structure determination:
Pete Dunten
Marjorie Harding
Christoph Weber (NMR methods)

24. Why the random coil is not random:
Matthias Buck

25. Conformational changes in proteins:
Gail Schuman (with reference to neutron scattering techniques for study of conformational changes)

28. Helical bundles:
Pete Dunten

31. Water in and around proteins:
Matthias Buck
(Terry Walsh)

32. The role of signal peptides:
(Terry Walsh)

34. The functional roles of proteins:
(Terry Walsh)

35. Proteolysis:
Clare Sansom

36. Symmetry in protein association:
Pete Dunten

37. Proteins in viruses:
Gail Schuman
Sophia Kossida

And in addition:
39. DNA-protein binding:
Henry Brzeski
Vineet Gupta

40. Metal complexes of amino-acids:
Marjorie Harding

Many thanks to these consultants

If you would like to consult any of these people, please contact them directly - they will tell you if they are already "full up" for the topic in question!

Last updated 17.6.96