The focus of this research is the development of a system in which the interactions of lipid A and derivatives with other molecules can be directly observed and characterized. The association properties of the lipid A derivatives will be studied via microtitration calorimetry. The first lipid A binding molecule to be studied will be the peptide antibiotic polymyxin B. The focus of the educational activities is on the preparation of short animations of organic reactions based on high level semi-empirical and ab initio calculations.With this Faculty Early Development (CAREER) award, the Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Program is supporting the research and educational activities of Dr. Paul B. Savage of the Department of Chemistry at Brigham Young University. Professor Savage will focus his research efforts on developing a system in which association of lipid A and derivatives with other molecules can be directly measured and thermodynamically characterized. Lipid A, a primary component of the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria, adversly affects the lives of hundreds of thousands of people each year in the United States. A primary focus of the educational activities is to develop visual materials for undergraduate teaching.
