{"id":2001,"date":"2016-02-08T14:53:37","date_gmt":"2016-02-08T18:53:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/ebuckhor\/?page_id=2001"},"modified":"2016-02-08T14:53:37","modified_gmt":"2016-02-08T18:53:37","slug":"curran-awarded-nsf-grant","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-winter2016\/along-the-walk\/curran-awarded-nsf-grant\/","title":{"rendered":"Curran Awarded NSF Grant"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"CurranSM\"<\/a>

Professor of Chemistry Timothy Curran, bottom left, joins his summer 2015 research group. Clockwise from top left: Griffith Scholar Paul Handali \u201918, Alfred L. Peiker Scholar Vu Nguyen \u201917, Elena-Marie Pedro \u201917, Jack Suitor (University of Edinburgh), Jerome C. Cuppia, Jr. and Doris White Cuppia Memorial Scholar Joe Sanderson-Brown \u201918, and Curran Photo: Maria Krisch<\/p><\/div>\n

The National Science Foundation (NSF) recently awarded a $234,957 grant to Trinity College Professor of Chemistry Timothy Curran to examine a potential new method of creating protein shapes called beta-sheets, which may have implications for understanding amyloid diseases such as Alzheimer\u2019s disease. Curran is the principal investigator of the project, \u201cRUI: Investigations of a Novel, Bimetallic Ring System for Nucleating Beta-Sheets.\u201d<\/p>\n

The beta-sheet protein shape, Curran said, \u201cis found in the protein plaques that form in the brains of Alzheimer\u2019s patients, clogging the brain\u2019s neurons.\u201d With this grant-funded project, Curran plans to investigate how these beta-sheets form and how they might be broken up.
\nCurran and his undergraduate students have discovered a cyclic, air-stable molecule that includes the metals tungsten and iron, which can position two protein chains next to each other as found in beta-sheets. \u201cWe have a model chemical system that we think might be able to generate beta-sheets,\u201d he said. \u201cLong range, this could help combat diseases like Alzheimer\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n

The grant also includes funds to support three students for three summers and allows them to travel with Curran to conferences. \u201cThis grant offers a great opportunity for students,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Curran, chair of Trinity\u2019s Chemistry Department, spent the summer of 2015 working with Trinity students from all over the world. \u201cThey were from Trinidad, Great Britain, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Windsor, Connecticut,\u201d he said.
\nCurran said that his students were partly responsible for leading him to the particular line of inquiry pursued by this project. \u201cThis one came about because Allison Lawrence \u201910 in my lab made a discovery about this molecule that had a particular shape,\u201d he said. \u201cIn our lab, we make molecules that no one has ever made before. A student who makes a new molecule in my lab is the first person in the history of the planet to make that molecule. It\u2019s one of the ways they can be unique.\u201d<\/p>\n

Involving students in research has always been important to Curran, who hopes to inspire a new generation of scientists. \u201cI wanted to work at a school like Trinity because I started in science by having people let me work in their labs in the summertime, and I wanted to do the same thing for other students,\u201d he said. \u201cI like seeing students succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The National Science Foundation (NSF) recently awarded a $234,957 grant to Trinity College Professor of Chemistry Timothy Curran to examine a potential new method of creating protein shapes called beta-sheets, which may have implications for understanding amyloid diseases such as Alzheimer\u2019s disease. Curran is the principal investigator of the project, \u201cRUI: Investigations of a Novel, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"parent":1466,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-full-width.php","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-winter2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2001"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-winter2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-winter2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-winter2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-winter2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-winter2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2001\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-winter2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-winter2016\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}