Current Techniques in Protein Sciences

Proteins are the basic building blocks of life. They are defined as large biomolecules, or macromolecules, consisting of one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a variety of functions in the cell, including catalysing metabolic and biochemical reactions, assisting DNA replication, responding to external and internal stimuli, and transporting molecules from one location to another intracellularly or extracellularly. Protein studies are important in the fields of biomedicine, environmental sciences, and industrial applications. Understanding of how protein works at the molecular level assists in the development of new disease therapy, discovers and improves the activity of industrially-important enzymes, and reveals beneficial secondary metabolites in medicinals plants, among many other interesting applications. Molecular investigation of proteins requires specialised instruments and precise techniques. Other than the commonly used sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), and Western blotting (also known as protein immunoblotting), there are many other advanced techniques currently used. The techniques include surface plasmon resonance, mass spectrometry, X-ray crystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, cryo-electron microscopy, and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy. Computational techniques are also indispensable in supporting wet lab experiments, and to provide precious information not observable with any other methods. This research book is aimed at showcasing various research on proteins previously or currently being carried out at UTM. With the acquisition of increasingly sophisticated instruments, software, and the development of many new techniques, protein science research is currently on the rise. This book demonstrates UTM research capability on protein sciences, and hopefully will serve as the platform for networking among the established and the new researchers interested in the field.