# Seeing Protein Mechanics: The Link Between Molecular Structure, Function, and Evolution

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO · 2020 · $405,000

## Abstract

Project Summary:
The internal mechanics of proteins – the coordinated motion of amino acids and the pattern of forces
constraining these motions – connects protein structure and function. The biologically relevant motions are
potentially quite subtle, distributed widely over the tertiary structure, and likely to cover a broad range of time
scales. Current biophysical methods do not offer a route to a complete description of these motions, a
problem that severely limits our understanding of protein structure, function, and evolution. Here, we propose
a completely new approach to this problem involving the application of strong electric fields to protein crystals
with simultaneous time-resolved x-ray diffraction to observe the resulting motions in spatial and temporal detail.
Preliminary work provides strong justification for development and application of this method, called EF/TRX,
and motivates a set of interesting experiments to explore the power of this approach for exposing the structural
basis for complex protein functions. EF/TRX involves considerable technical and conceptual innovations, but
the completion of the work described here should enable broad usage of this new method by the scientific
community and stimulate further development. More fundamentally, the experiments proposed will lay the
foundation for understanding the mechanical basis of protein function.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9988475
- **Project number:** 5R01GM123456-06
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
- **Principal Investigator:** RAMA RANGANATHAN
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $405,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-09-07 → 2022-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9988475

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9988475, Seeing Protein Mechanics: The Link Between Molecular Structure, Function, and Evolution (5R01GM123456-06). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9988475. Licensed CC0.

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