Medical Student Research Fellowship for Summer 2012

Mentor:                       Lily Huang, Qiu-Xing Jiang        
Department:              Cell Biology
Room number:         J2.118 & J2.116
Mail Code:                 9039
Phone number:        214-648-2570                                   214-648-6333
E-mail:                       lily.huang@utsouthwestern.edu  qiu-xing.jiang@utsouthwestern.edu
Project title: Developing a New Strategy for the Structural Study of EpoR

Human subjects IRB approved project number (where applicable): N/A

Animal subjects IRB approved project number (where applicable):  N/A

Project Type (patient-based research, animal-based research, or basic research; this characterization is only to permit a general classification for grouping similar types of projects)                  Basic research.

Brief Description of Project:

Despite trials by different groups, the structural information of a full-length cytokine receptor in complex with its effector kinase remains missing. With the erythropoietin receptor (EpoR) and its kinase, Janus Kinase 2 (JAK2), we will apply newly developed techniques to enable the cryoEM imaging of the functional EpoR/JAK2 complexes. High-affinity ligands for the EpoR will be anchored onto the carbon-coated EM grids, and will be used to enrich the EpoR/JAK2 complexes expressed on the cell surface. The cells will be lysed to leave the complexes behind for specimen preparation. The aim of the project is to work out the procedures that will allow us to obtain enough complexes for EM imaging.

Previous Research Activities or Publications with Medical Students:

None.