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NMR Studies at the Forefront of Biology and Materials Science
Materials science, biological chemistry, and the interface between biology/materials are leading technological breakthroughs. NMR spectroscopy is able to provide valuable information about molecular structure and dynamics.
Advances in disease treatment often arise from knowledge of molecular
structure and the interactions of biomolecules with ligands and pharmaceuticals.
These studies require atomic-level information, for which the most powerful
tools are x-ray crystallography and NMR spectroscopy. Despite the wealth
of data from x-ray and solution-NMR experiments, structural information
for many important biological systems remains elusive, but can be obtained
with modern, advanced NMR techniques.
The projects described below combine many different fields, such as biochemistry,
surface science, materials engineering, and NMR spectroscopy. They present
a multi-disciplinary approach to problem solving that fosters a very productive
research environment.
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Charles V. Rice
University of Oklahoma Department
of Chemistry & Biochem 620 Parrington Oval Roon 208 Noman OK
73019-3051
Office:Chem Building Annex B11 Lab (405) 325-0499
rice "at" ou.edu
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Biofilms and the Bacterial Cell Wall: Teichoic Acid Structure and Dynamics
A goal of our laboratory is to study bacterial biofilm formation at the molecular level. Bacterial biofilms have been implicated in post-surgical chronic infections and in the development of dental cavities. The formation of biofilms is essentially a four-step process. First, planktonic cells attach to the surface, followed by the production of extracellular polymeric substances (slime), development of a biofilm architecture, and finally biofilm spreading through bacteria release (Figure 1A). For most Gram-positive bacteria, the first step involves lipoteichoic acid (LTA) binding to the surface (Figure 1B,C).
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