User:Anthony Salvagno/Notebook/Research/2009/11/11/Andy's Poster

Andy has been working on two posters for the upcoming conference (whose name I don't know) next week. Posters and presentations are my favorite aspects of science because I get to do graphic designs of scientific concepts! Here is what I have made:

Casein Micelle
Apparently casein micelles look like what I made above. Of course this isn't definite, and I also used artistic interpretation, but it is pretty close. As I have learned in the past, casein is made up of 3 units: alpha, beta, and kappa casein. K-casein (kappa) can be found on the outside of the casein micelle as a supporting structure. Andy and I learned yesterday that k-casein has carbohydrate groups protruding from it which gives it the hairy look. I have distinguished the k-casein-carbohydrate complex with the hair and the pinkish piece. The pink is the k-casein and the hair is the carbohydrates. Each casein enzyme is the yellowish blob (made up of a- and b- caseins unless it is hairy which is all 3). The blue orbs are phosphate groups and the red boxes are calcium phosphate. The calcium phosphate helps to stabilize the micelles. I don't know what the phosphate groups do. In my image I have sliced through a casein micelle which explains the strange left feature.

Kinesin in Water
Koch talks about this a lot and is the basis for the lab's D2O studies. What happens to kinesin processivity if water is replaced with heavy water? In the top left, water is hydrating all the surfaces between a kinesin motor domain and a microtubule. In the top right the same is occurring with heavy water. Below each image the kinesin has stepped and is bound to the microtubule, and the water/heavy water has been displaced but is hydrating the available surfaces. The purpose of the studies is to determine the effect heavy water may have on each scenario (bound/unbound). This is the updated image demonstrating not larger size but higher density. This is demonstrated by color change of the hydrogens of the molecule. Also I have ordered some waters to hydrate surfaces.