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ENGS 163: Protein Engineering

Offered

13W, 14W: 10

Prerequisites

One from ENGS 35 or ENGS 160 AND one from CHEM 5 or CHEM 10 (Note: one from CHEM 51 or CHEM 57 is preferred). Alternatively, students may have one from CHEM 41 or BIOC 101. Equivalent courses accepted with instructor's permission.

Instructors

Griswold

Textbooks

Winter 2013: see list

Engineered biomolecules are powering an array of innovations in biotechnology, and this course will familiarize students with key developments in the field. A brief review of important biochemical principles will touch on concepts such as the central dogma of biology, atomic scale forces in protein structures, and the relationship between protein structure and function. Strategies for protein structure modification will then be surveyed, with a particular emphasis on genetic techniques.  These discussions will culminate with a detailed examination of evolutionary engineering algorithms that represent state of the art technologies for combinatorial protein design. The development of proteins with practical utility will be highlighted throughout the term using examples and case studies taken from the current literature.