This award is under the International Postdoctoral Fellows Program, which enables U.S. scientists and engineers to conduct three to twelve months of research at foreign centers of proven excellence. The program's awards provide opportunities for joint research, and the use of unique or complementary facilities, expertise and experimental conditions abroad. This award will support a twelve-month postdoctoral research visit by Dr. Susann G. Remington of the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities to work with Dr. Spyros D. Georgatos at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany. Dr. Remington has characterized a full length chicken lens cDNA encoding filensin, a lens- specific, membrane-associated, cytoskeletal protein. The deduced amino acid sequence of filensin contains a 280 residue domain with sequence similarity to the rod domain of intermediate filament proteins. She will examine the molecular interactions of filensin and its potential contribution to lens cell organization by transfecting cultured chicken lens cells with constructs that express truncated forms of filensin, corresponding to domains or conserved sequence motifs. Truncated portions of filensin are expected to competitively inhibit protein-protein interactions of the analogous regions of endogenous chicken filensin, resulting in dominant negative phenotypes(s). Dr. Remington will monitor the morphology of the transfected cells and the distribution of filensin, other cytoskeletal proteins, and integral membrane proteins in the transfected cultures. She will also assess the biochemical state of wild type filensin under the experimental conditions.
