9406103 Di Cera In the proposed research project we plan to continue to develop the thermodynamic theory of site-specific binding effects. We have a dual goal in mind. First, we seek to provide experimentalists with a conceptual framework and effective strategies to be exploited in the experimental dissection of site-specific effects. Second, we seek to bring the analysis of cooperative effects in biology to a whole new level by unraveling the thermodynamic foundations of the behavior of subsystems open to interactions with other subsystems. This is a basic problem in statistical thermodynamics which remains in largest measure unformulated and unexplored, due to its mathematical complexity. Without a thermodynamic treatment of local effects, our understanding of the most exciting and challenging problems in biology, such as cooperativity, molecular recognition and protein folding, will remain necessarily incomplete. %%% Our project entails the development of a theory for interacting systems in biology. The goal is to understand the detailed basis for protein-ligand and protein-protein recognition in terms of a novel conceptual framework. Protein-mediated molecular recognition is a crucial step in nearly every aspect of biology, as well as in the onset, propagation and control of diseases at the molecular level. The developments under the proposed research project will provide us with a much deeper understanding of how proteins work. This will eventually foster the developments of new strategies for the control of diseases at the pharmacological level. ***
