Developing a systematic and rational approach to an understanding of the underlying physical and chemical principles involved in information transfer by peptide hormones and neurotransmitters is a fundamental problem in science. Intercellular communication is central to life and an understanding of the systems involved in communication is necessary for further understanding oflife processes and how they might be controlled and modulated. The approach Dr. Hruby has been developing over the past several years has led to peptide hormones and neurotransmitters with unique biological activities. He is continuing to develop the relationships of conformation and topology to various aspects of peptide hormone and neurotransmitter biological activity. In particular, those features which define and distinguish receptor recognition and binding, transduction of information and prolonged receptor- related biological activity will be studied. Those peptides with interesting or unique biological properties or specific conformational features will be examined by NMR, CD and other biophysical methods for specific insight into their conformational and dynamic properties.
