Cell Targeting Project

This project is intended to give undergraduate students introduction into some of the tools used to design cell targeting vectors. Specifically, we will use green fluorescent protein (GFP) as a reporter that can be used to measure entry into cells. We can modify GFP either by chemical attachment of peptides or by mutagenesis.

In this project you will create a model of such a cell targeting probe by starting with the GFP structure and then modifying it according to your design so that it interacts with a particular cell surface receptor. The interaction of peptides with cell surface receptors is a challenging area for research and we can only begin the process of understanding this area in this project. However, we can give you the tools to do further work.

The larger research projects in this area are described on the research part of the website.

The specifics of cell targeting studies are discussed here.

The step-by-step procedure for modification of a GFP protein is given here.