9357093 Kiessling In general, oligosaccharide-protein interactions that play a critical role in cell-cell recognition in the immune system and structure/function relationships of RNA and RNA-protein complexes will be studied. Cell adhesion at the molecular level, where a specific complex between the tetrasaccharide sialyl Lewis x and the E-selectin receptor has been implicated as a mediator, will be studied. This will lead to an understanding of how: (1) the carbohydrate sequence determines conformation and conformational rigidity of the sialyl Lewis x and (2) the molecular details of complexation. This will allow the development of new methods to modulate carbohydrate-mediated adhesion. A new analytical technique for determining binding of proteins to RNA will be applied with the IRE-binding protein, which controls levels of iron regulatory proteins. In addition, the mechanism of selective cleavage of oligoribonucleotides at bulges and loops by a Cu(II) complex will be studied as well as cleavage of DNA at hairpins. %%% This grant from the Organic Synthesis Program supports the work of Professor Laura L. Kiessling at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Interactions between carbohydrates and proteins play a critical role in cell-cell recogition in the immune system and these important interactions will be studied. Understanding this complexation will be important to the design of new drugs for the treatment of inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis. A new analytical technique for determining the binding of proteins to RNA will be implemented to increase the understanding of RNA-mediated gene regulation, which can lead to new strategies to control cancer, viral infections, and other genetic diseases. ***
