Sphingosine Kinase
What is the primary function of Shingosine Kinase
Catalyzes the phosphorylation of sphingosine to create sphingosine 1-phosphate
What is the purpose of an inhibitor
To block the formation of a target molecule
what is apoptosis
Controlled cell death.
Who is our faculty assistant
Dr. Brown
What does "in silico" mean?
Translating literally from Latin as in silicon, which is a reference to the silicon chips computers run on, it means virtually done, or computer simulated
How many Isoforms does Sphingosine Kinase Have
Two
How do inhibitors work?
They bind to where the target molecule would in the binding cavity and prevent it from carrying out its job
What is a signaling cascade
Cells communication pathways are often quite messy, with one molecule signaling another which signals another which signals another, that then has the desired effect.
Name one thing you found interesting in the articles!
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What is an angstrom
a unit of length equal to one hundred-millionth of a centimeter, 10−10 meter, used mainly to express wavelengths and interatomic distances. Often denoted as Å
Where is Sphk1 located?
Cytoplasm
What is a binding cavity?
A literal cavity that the desired molecule and fit into and cause the who structure to "fold" which often lead to other signals within the cell
What is noise in a cell?
Noise refers to the interference from outside factors. Since we deal with such small amounts of molecules even small deviations in things can drastically skew the average
How did conceptual tools help approach the problems in the papers
By simulating the molecules they had a method to understand what was happening and why without the need for crazy medical techniques
What does " in vitro" mean?
Literally meaning from Latin "in glass" this is often used to refer to contained experiments in the scientific community
what does sphingosine-1-phosphate do?
This is a potent cellular growth factor
What is an ideal inhibitor
One that is non-toxic, highly effective and metabolically stable
Changes in the cell signaling process can cause what kinds of diseases
Cancer and fibrosis
What will we be doing next semester
Designing an inhibitor for Sphingosine Kinase
What animal are the majority of these experiments done on
mice
Why do we want to inhibit Sphingosine Kinase
It causes the activation of Shingosine-1-phospate which triggers cell growth.
What are the most successful current inhibitors of Sphingosine Kinase
the most successful inhibitors contain a guanidine-based, oxadiazole-containing scaffold with a variety of moieties extending from the lipid tail region of the inhibitor
What does an isoform mean in this context
A protein isoform, is a member of a set of similar proteins from a single gene or gene family and are the result of genetic differences between organisms.
When is your fall deliverable due?
thanksgiving
What is a moiety?
A moiety is a part of a molecule which is typically given a name as it can be found within other kinds of molecules as well. Examples are benzene and alcohol groups