Student studies similarities between HSA-heme and myoglobin
Many majors require research credits to graduate, and students studying chemistry are no exception. They must complete three semesters of research under the instruction of faculty. Ashlyn Kelly, a senior Chemistry major, is working on research with Jason Bennett, Department Chair of Chemistry and Associate Professor of Chemistry, and Mary Grace Galinato, Undergraduate Coordinator of Chemistry and Associate Professor of Chemistry.
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Kelly is looking at the human serum albumin (HSA), which is the most abundant protein in human blood plasma, using electrochemistry. HSA is a transporter for many molecules, such as hormones and fatty acid. She is using HSA with reconstituted heme, so it has functional similarities to myoglobin. Myoglobin is a protein found in the muscle cells of animals. For example, it can reduce nitrite to nitric oxide, therefore serving as a nitrite reductase. However, HSA-heme functions are limited due to the basicity of a tyrosine ligand, a receptor. Kelly is complexing this system with imidazole derivatives, which is a molecule that mimics the structure of histidine, the fifth ligand present in myoglobin.
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Kelly uses cyclic voltammetry to observe the electrochemistry properties of HSA-heme and myoglobin in different solutions. She is mostly focused on observing an iron redox couple through nitrite reductions. The goal of the project is to see if HSA-heme will mimic myoglobin and act as an artificial enzyme. If it shows to, HSA-heme could be used instead of myoglobin to catalyze different chemical reactions more efficiently.
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Kelly also uses spectroelectrochemistry to study the properties of HSA-heme and myoglobin with different imidazole derivatives. When she does this, she takes a spectrometer, a machine that measures the wavelength of light, and puts an electrode in an electrochemical cell that will allow the wavelength to pass through the electrode. She puts the protein on the electrode to look at the UV visible spectrum of the protein, as well as the electrochemistry, a branch of chemistry that studies the relationship between electrical and chemical properties.
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“I like doing it because it’s something that most chem majors don’t get to experience,” said Kelly about Behrend’s research requirement. Most chemistry students don’t get to do research until graduate school, so it gives students a feel for what either further education or a career would be like.
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For the project, Kelly was able to receive several research grants, including a Penn State Behrend 2017 Summer Research Fellowship, the 2017 Mary Chisolm Award in Chemistry and the Penn State Behrend 2017/2018 Undergraduate Student Academic Year Research Grant.
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“Working in a research lab is different than your regular chemistry lab. You have to come up with your own procedures, you have to figure out what you are doing wrong and fix it,” explained Kelly. Unlike in the classroom, the student researcher is responsible for the project and the professors are there for guidance. Kelly knows how to use the lab equipment and is responsible, along with the other students in her lab, for keeping things going. This may include fixing her equipment, making sure she has the necessary components for her research and keeping her project on track.
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Results from Kelly’s project will be correlated with results from a joint project in Galinato’s lab, where similar nitrite reductions are being studied.