Description

A keynote lecture by Kimoon Kim, Professor of Chemistry and Director of the Center for Self-assembly and Complexity at Pohang University of Science and Technology. 

EVENT DESCRIPTION

The future of personalized medicine depends on the extent of biological processes we understand today. So far, in trying to understand such complex processes, the naturally occurring streptavidin-biotin (SA-BT) protein-ligand pair with a high binding affinity (K ~ 1013 M-1) has been extensively used. Nevertheless, it has intrinsic limitations in a cellular environment, such as being susceptible to enzymatic degradation, large size (52 kDa), and the presence of endogenous biotin, which generates false positives. Therefore, a small molecule-based artificial binding pair system with ultra-high binding affinity and specificity is highly desired for bioapplications such as immobilization and purification of biomolecules, biosensing, and bioimaging. We have developed a synthetic macrocyclic receptor molecule cucurbit[7]uril (CB[7]), a member of the cucurbit[n]uril family (CB[n], n = 5–8, 10, 14), having the unique ability to form ultrastable complexes with specific guests such as adamantyl amines (K > 1012 M-1). Such ultrastable host-guest complexes have been further utilized as a new chemical tool for understanding complex cellular processes such as autophagy, inaccurate, and precise imaging of target proteins in the isolation of spatiotemporally localized proteins specialized in inter-organelle communications, isolation, and purification of therapeutic protein drugs and proteomics in general. The advantages of this synthetic receptor system over its natural analog include (1) high chemical stability in a cellular environment, (2) bio-orthogonality in binding, (3) small size enabling for efficient cellular uptake, and (4) scalability for cost-effective and convenient uses. In this talk, I will present our recent progress towards developing such new chemical tools for biology based on the ultrastable host-guest complexes, which may be useful in laying the cornerstone of personalized medicine in the future.

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