This CAREER Award in the Inorganic, Bioinorganic and Organometallic Chemistry Program supports the research and education plans of Charles R. Cornman of the North Carolina State University. The goal of the proposed research is to develop metal-based complexes that can mediate biological signal transduction. An aim is to define the details of vanadate inhibition of protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs), which are components of signal cascades that regulate growth and cell differentiation, and to use this knowledge to prepare vanadium-polypeptides that should act as inhibitors of specific PTPs. Vanadium complexes will be designed in an attempt to control specific intracellular signals pertaining to cell growth and disease. An introductory chemistry course will be developed that allows for exploring shared interests between instructors and students, with electronic communications enhancing this interaction. In a second educational project, student groups will propose a project to reproduce a published result with real-world constraints of time, cost and instrument availability.
