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Colin A. Wraight Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics Ph.D. 1971, Bristol University, UK Electron and proton transfer in proteins; molecular engineering of ligand-protein interactions Colin A. Wraight 160A Davenport, MC-147 607 S. Mathews Urbana, IL 61801 217-333-3245 cwraight@illinois.edu

The research in my lab stems from primary interests in membrane function and the biophysical chemistry of energy transduction, especially the mechanisms of intraprotien electron and proton transfer. In photsynthesis light energy is converted into electrochemical free energy with high efficiency and yield by processes of this sort. Conversion occurs in a multifunctional membrane protein complex, the reaction center, in a sequence of reaction steps spanning picoseconds to milliseconds and involving 8 cofactors (chlorophyll-like pigments and quinones). The reaction centers from some photosynthetic bacteria have been crystalized and their structures determined to atomic resolution�the only membrane proteins for which this is true. Working with intact membranes and isolated reaction centers, we are using biophysical techniques (e.g., fast kinetic spectroscopy, EPR, photovoltage measurement), molecular genetics (protein engineering), and computational methods to study:

1. charge separating and stabilizing electron transfer reactions;
2. proton uptake and intra-protein proton transfer reactions;
3. electrostatics and dynamics in proteins;
4. cofactor (quinone) binding and modulation of function by the protein;
5. electrogenic steps in electron and proton transfer processes, using direct electrical measurements; and
6. protein conformational dynamics.