Caitlin Smith

A variety of tests under development promise easier and more complete cancer-screening capabilities. With just a single blood sample, some diagnostics will search for signs of dozens of cancers. In addition to their biological capabilities, these screening methods benefit from advanced computation, including artificial intelligence. The question is, how well might these tests work?

An integral tool in biological research, protein expression is increasingly important as a pharmaceutical production mechanism for biological therapeutics. The ability to direct the ultimate nature of proteins depends largely on the degree of control researchers have over the final product. The combination of old technologies—such as artificial enzymes—and new next-generation expression systems is revitalizing protein expression protocols.

Herein the first example of a bimetallic coiled coil featuring a lanthanide binding site is reported, opening opportunities to exploit the attractive NMR and photophysical properties of the lanthanides in multi metallo protein design. In our efforts to fully characterise the system we identified for the first time that lanthanide binding to such sites is pH dependent, with optimal binding at neutral pH, and that the double AsnAsp site is more versatile in this regard than the single Asp site.