Speaker: Donita Garland, Laboratory of Mechanisms of Ocular Diseases, National Eye Institute, NIH, Bethesda, MD

Topic: Proteomics As Applied To Lens Development And Pathology

Place: Building 426, Conference Room, NCI-Frederick, Frederick, MD

Time: Tuesday, December 11, 2001, at 2:00 PM

Abstract: A proteomics approach has been used to study the biology of a transparent tissue, the lens. A dozen gene products, the crystallins, make up about ninety percent of the protein in the human lens. Since there is no protein or cell turnover, the post-translational modification (PTM) of the crystallins has been a focus of many studies on lens pathology. We have used 2-D electrophoresis to identify those crystallins modified and correlate the modifications with development and pathology. MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry has been used to identify the modifications. The results of studies on the PTMs of the alpha crystallins will be presented.