This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. Primary support for the subproject and the subproject's principal investigator may have been provided by other sources, including other NIH sources. The Total Cost listed for the subproject likely represents the estimated amount of Center infrastructure utilized by the subproject, not direct funding provided by the NCRR grant to the subproject or subproject staff. Crystal screening of CD36. CD36 is a membrane receptor supposedly with the function of disposing cholesterol and oxidized lipid. However, recent findings of many labs indicated that CD36 is involved in the formation of plaques in the arteries, the main cause of atherosclerosis which leads to hear attacks. It has 441 amino acids for the full length protein and the MW is around 50 K. Its structure has never been determined. The goal of our project is to find out the correlation between CD36 and heart attack. Crystal screening of HDL, the high density lipo-protein. HDL is the so-called good cholesterol carrier which functions as a vehicle to carry the cholesterol from the periphery to the liver for catabolism. The goal of our study is to find out the mechanism of this transport process medically called the reverse cholesterol transport RCT). Since HDL is a key player in RCT the structure of HDL will certainly give us more clue in finding new way or drugs to combat atherosclerosis. The structure of HDL has never been determined to a high resolution. There exist several models based on biophysical, biochemical and computational methods. However, they are more of indirect theoretical in nature than direct experimental findings. Recently we have published a low resolution model based on Neutron Scattering and computational refinement. Our model is fundamentally different from what the other labs suggested. A new debate has since been kindled. To find out a high resolution experimental model we have to resort to protein crystallography based on the high molecular weight of the particle (more than 200 kDa).
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