Researchers can determine the three-dimensional structures of most cellular proteins. Other proteins, however, constantly shift their shape to perform different cellular functions. Researchers are working to better understand these proteins and the functions they perform within cells.

David Cowburn, Ph.D., has received a five-year, $2.8 million grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences to study these so-called "disordered" proteins, many of which play important roles in cancer, aging, viral infections and neurodegeneration. Dr. Cowburn's laboratory has built models of the ways that certain amino-acid sequences can change their shape, providing a set of rules for engineering shape-shifting proteins in the lab. He and his and his colleagues will use biochemistry tools such as nuclear magnetic resonance to study the properties of these proteins. The research could enable scientists to engineer proteins for use as therapies.

Dr. Cowburn is professor of biochemistry and systems & computational biology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and is a member of the National Cancer Institute-designated Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center. (1R35GM156806-01)