This award supports the participation of American scientists in a U.S.-Japan seminar on protein folding, function and funnels, to be held in Honolulu, Hawaii from January 13-19, 2002. The co-organizers are professors Peter Wolynes and Luthey-Schulten of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Professor Shoji Takada at Kyoto University in Japan. The topic of protein folding is extremely important. In recent years, protein folding has begun to be viewed in the context of a statistical mechanics-based, energy landscape theory. This theory provides a framework in which quantitative treatment of complex dynamics of protein folding can be analyzed. The theory starts with the statistical mechanical treatment of random polymer systems and proceeds by linking characteristic features of ensembles of proteins at various stages of folding to features and properties of the energy landscape of foldable proteins.
A major practical result of the energy landscape approach to protein folding has been a major advance in the success of algorithms for the prediction of protein structure from sequence, an important part of the post genomic paradigm of biology. They are also important in their function, especially in the area of gene regulation. The exchange of ideas and data with Japanese experts in this field will enable U.S. participants to advance their own work, and will set the stage for future collaborative projects. Dissemination of information on the seminar will be available on the World Wide Web.
