|
|
||||||||||||||
 |
MILLS COLLEGE PARTICIPATES IN MAJOR NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION GRANT FOR NEW SCIENCE OF BIOPHOTONICS Student and Faculty Scientists Discover Yellow-Pink Optical Switching Protein as Part of Biophotonics Research Oakland, CA - A new science—biophotonics—has a center of operations at the $40 million Center for Biophotonics Science and Technology (CBST)—the only one of the NSF-funded Centers for Science and Technology in the country devoted to the study of light energy in biology and medicine. Located at the UC Davis Medical Center, the Center’s mission is ”to improve the quality of life by dramatically expanding the use of photons in the life sciences, bioengineering, and health care.” As part of this major National Science Foundation (NSF) grant, Mills College student and faculty scientists have discovered remarkable characteristics of a newly characterized protein from the heat loving, photosynthetic bacteria, Thermosynechococcus elongatus BP-1. This protein is a yellow to pink reversible optical switch. T. elongatus’s switch is among the light sensing proteins that tiny bacteria use to adapt successfully in their native environment. This family of proteins also has potential use for reporting cellular events in deep tissue by means of bright red fluorescence, which is of potential value for detection of tumors or other abnormalities. According to Susan Spiller, Mills principal investigator and assistant professor of biology, and Mills biophotonics research fellows Stephanie Lane and Brittany Ashlock, “proteins such as this allow plants to grow out from a shadow into light, or for photosynthetic bacteria to move up and down in hot springs to find the right intensity of light. These proteins are the ‘eyes’ that all organisms need to adapt appropriately to their environment.” The novel yellow-pink conversion of this protein suggests that this organism may be uniquely suited to a particular ecological niche, and may also permit engineering of yellow/pink responses in other systems. Many other Mills students have been involved in the research: Leah Dunn, Sunshine Dwojak, Melissa Lucey, Victoria Parson, Kathy Marshall, Amanda Yeaton-Massey, Nova Szoka, Alison Breen, Clea Lopez, Lisa Mayor, Maya Menon, Doreen Shafie, and Zhiyu Liang have all contributed, as have collaborators in the Center including J. Clark Lagarias and students in his lab at UC Davis, and researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories. Spiller points out that Mills students involved in the biophotonics project are gaining extremely valuable laboratory skills that enhance their competitiveness for graduate study, medical school, and biotechnology research. “We are giving undergraduate women, and pre-med post-baccalaureate students opportunities for graduate level research and techniques they can use in any lab for their future research.” Mills students recently presented their findings at the Optical Probes Workshop (Sonoma, CA) and at the annual meeting of the American Society of Cell Biology (San Francisco, CA). In addition, Professor Spiller and the Mills Biophotonics Fellows support the Biophotonix class at East Oakland Community High School. Participating Center for Biophotonics Science and Technology (CBST) institutions in addition to Mills College are: the University of California, Davis (lead), Alabama A & M University, Fisk University, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Stanford University, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Texas, San Antonio, and the University of California, San Francisco. For more information on CBST visit their website at http://cbst.ucdavis.edu/. Mills College is a nationally renowned, independent liberal arts college offering innovative degree programs for undergraduate women, and graduate degree and certificate programs for women and men. Consistently ranked among the top 75 liberal arts colleges in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, Mills is also recognized as one of the country’s 20 most diverse liberal arts colleges. The Princeton Review selected Mills as one of 11 colleges for first-time inclusion in its Best 361 Colleges–2005. Nestled in the foothills of Oakland, California on 135 lush acres, Mills provides a dynamic liberal arts education fostering women’s leadership, social responsibility, and creativity. PRESS CONTACT: |
|
|||||||||||||
