Graduate Student - Ph.D.

Harvard University (Cambridge, MA)

Gavin MacBeath

Exploring new PDZ protein domain interactions using high-throughput fluorescence polarization and statistical machine learning.

PDZ domains are one large family of scaffolding proteins that are very important yet not well understood in the brain. Their main function is to bind the C-termini of other proteins. According to previous research, each PDZ may be evolutionarily selected to bind a very specific amino acid sequence. I am searching for ways to learn about what physical properties a specific PDZ domain prefers at a given amino acid position, thereby enabling a prediction of new PDZ interactors.