Organization and interactions of eye-lens crystallins: native states and cataract formation (A08)

• Subject Area: Experimental and Theoretical Physics of Polymers ; Biophysics ; Statistical Physics, Nonlinear Dynamics, Complex Systems, Soft and Fluid Matter, Biological Physics
• Term: from 2011 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 189853844

The eye lens is a complex, highly concentrated colloidal dispersion containing three different protein types. This project aims at an improved molecular-scale picture of the dynamics and the interactions in native and recombinant pure crystallins and mixtures using site-resolved as well as low-resolution solution- and solid-state NMR techniques. In the focus are potential changes in the secondary structure and the molecular interactions as a function of concentration by observing characteristic changes in the chemical shifts and the dynamics, respectively. Specifically, we focus on amyloid-forming, UV-induced aggregating and hydrogel-forming crystallins and their mutants to come to a broader understanding of the relevant molecular interactions.

• DFG Programme: CRC/Transregios
• Subproject of: TRR 102: Polymers under Multiple Constraints: Restricted and Controlled Molecular Order and Mobility
• Applicant Institution: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg
• Project Heads: Professor Dr. Jochen Balbach; Professor Dr. Kay Saalwächter, Ph.D.