Poster abstracts

Poster number 68 submitted by Geeta Vittal Rao

Mapping functional epitopes in the human prolactin hormone

Geeta Vittal Rao (The Ohio State University), Charles L Brooks (The Ohio State University)

Abstract:
Human prolactin binds its cognate receptor, the human prolactin receptor, at two distinct sites on its surface. I am interested in identifying the free energy contributions of amino acids in human prolactin that are involved in binding the first receptor molecule. To this end, I have made 104 Alanine mutants of human prolactin that will be tested for binding the receptor using Surface Plasmon Resonance. Prior to performing binding studies, these mutants will be analyzed for purity and proper folding using SDS-PAGE, Circular Dichroism and Fluorescence spectroscopy.

Keywords: Human Prolactin, Functional epitopes