Biographical Sketch
Contents
Biographical Information
Dr. Belinda Pastrana
Associate Professor
Associate Prof. University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez Campus
(1999-present)
Assistant Prof. University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez
Campus (1996-99)
Post
Doctorate Mayo Clinic & Foundation
(1995-96)
Ph.D.
M.S.
B.S. University
of Puerto Rico-Humacao Campus (1987)
Honors:
ASCB
Visiting Professorship at Mayo Clinic Summer
1999
Mayo
Clinic Visiting Scholar Award Summer
1998-1997
NRSA-NIH
Post doctoral Fellow 1995
MBRS-NIH
Pre-doctoral Fellow 1989-1995
MBRS-NIH
undergraduate assistantship 1984-1987
Educational Interest:
An interdisciplinary approach towards
teaching Biochemistry. This is
particularly truthful when one considers the impact given by advances in the
area of structural Biology, and Molecular Biology which affect how Biochemistry
is taught. Today, greater insight is
achieved if these areas are also considered.
Research Interest:
(1)
Protein conformational changes and its relationship to function.
Our group is interested in the multidisciplinary approach towards
structural and functional genomics. This
is particularly, true when one considers the different post-translational
modifications a protein has and how its function is affected by it. We have developed the expertise in the areas
of molecular biology to generate site directed mutants and bacterially express
recombinant proteins of interest.
These recombinant proteins are characterized biophysically using FT-IR,
FT-IR microscopy, IRRAS, CD spectroscopies and
two-dimensional correlation analysis. By
studying the changes in protein secondary structure due to its interaction with
target peptide and proteins, ligands or lipids we can
then model these interactions by using molecular modeling programs from Accelrys to understand its biological function. There are several proteins where our efforts
are currently focused:
(1) Centrin, a calcium binding protein, found to associated
with centrioles/basal bodies, centrosomes,
and mitotic spindle poles responsible for distributing the chromosomes to the
daughter cells.
(2) A soluble isoform of epidermal growth
factor receptor (110 kD-sEGFR),
a serum biomarker for epithelial ovarian cancer, and potential ligands: epidermal growth factor (EGF), and transforming
growth factor-alpha (TGF-a).
(3) Lung surfactant proteins (SP-B and SP-C) and the subsequent peptide
analogs and peptoids to address the effective design
of a new synthetic lung surfactant. These
surfactant preparations are vital to the treatment of neonatal respiratory
distress syndrome (NRDS) and adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).
Favorite Links
http://www.pdg.cnb.uam.es/cursos/BioInfo2001/pages/Farmac/CATH
Contact Information
E-mail address
Web address
http://www.uprm.edu/wquim
Current Projects
Peptoids
Alpha Helical Peptides
Centrin
Soluble 110 kD
Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor protein
EGF, TGF-a
, heparin EGF-like ligands
Lungs Surfactant proteins
Publications
1. Benabe, J. E., Echegoyen,
L. A., Pastrana, B.,
2. Pastrana, B., Mautone, A. J., Mendelsohn, R.,
"Fourier Transform Infrared Studies of Secondary Structure and Orientation
of Pulmonary Surfactant SP-C and Its Effect on the Dynamic Surface Properties
of Phospholipids"1991 Biochemistry, 30, 10058 -10064.
3. Pastrana,
B. "FT-IR Studies of Pulmonary Surfactant SP-C and Its Effect on the
Dynamic Surface Properties of Phospholipids." 1992 MS Thesis
4.
Pastrana-Rios,
B., Flach, C., Braunner,
J., Mautone, A. J., Mendelsohn,
R., "A Direct Test of the "Squeeze-Out" Hypothesis of Lung Surfactant
Function. External Reflection FT-IR at
the Air/Water Interface" 1994 Biochemistry, 33, 5121 - 5127.
5.
Pastrana-Rios, B. "Lipid/Lipid and
Lipid/Protein Interactions in Pulmonary Surfactant Using FT-IR
Spectroscopy." 1995 Ph,D.
Thesis
6.
Pastrana-Rios, B., Taneva,
S., Keough, K., Mendelsohn,
R., “Secondary Structure and “Squeeze-out” of the Pulmonary Surfactant Proteins
SP-B and SP-C in Phospholipid Monolayers
at the Air/Water interface. An In Situ External Reflectance-Absorbance
FT-IR study” 1995 Biophysical Journal, 69 (6), 2531 - 2540.
7. Graff, D. K., Pastrana-Rios,
B., Venyaminov, S., Prendergast, F.G.,
"Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy and Two-Dimensional Infrared
Analysis of Model Helical Peptides" 1997 Journal of the American
Chemical Society, 119, 11282-11294.
8.
Pastrana-Rios, B., Graff, D. K.,
Prendergast, F.G., "Understanding the Mechanism of Peptide Unfolding"
(Manuscript in preparation).
9.
Pastrana-Rios, B., “Using Insight IIÒ
to Provide an Interdisciplinary Approach for Teaching Structural Biology” (accepted for publication)
10.
Pastrana-Rios, B.,
Areas of Research
interest
FT-IR and CD Spectroscopy
Molecular Modeling
Molecular Biology
Last revised: November 2002