Protein Modeling C

[shannoncolton]

Welcome to another year of the Protein Modeling event. We are excited to be offering this event in 26 states this year, including Wisconsin.

The rules for this event have been changed since last offered in Wisconsin. Please be sure to read the most current rules -- you can locate these rules on the National Science Olympiad website --http://soinc.org/trial_events.

In preparing for this event, we encourage you to start with the resources developed by the CBM. Please visit our website at http://cbm.msoe.edu/stupro/so/index.html. These resources are designed to help students understand protein structure/function, learn about the molecular story of the selected topic this year (Influenza), learn how to navigate the competition environment to visualize the proteins (no downloading of software required!) and how to translate a computer image to your toober. Please take some time to review these resources as we are sure that they will help you prepare for the protein modeling event.

If you have any questions, please feel free to post them here, or to email me directly (colton@msoe.edu).

Thank you and good luck!

[fschultz]

Hello,
In the information provided for the protein modeling event, it indicates that downloading a “5HMG.pdb file” will help in the construction of the protein. However, when visiting the pdb website, we can not seem to be able to download the actual 5HMG.pdb file. Is this direction in the event description referring to the article that appears when you search for 5HMG or is there a separate visualization file that must be downloaded? Would you be able to provide us with some direction regarding this issue?
Thanks,

[shannoncolton]

You can learn alot about the structure from the structure summary page of 5HMG -- http://www.pdb.org/pdb/explore/explore.do?structureId=5HMG. This will provide you with the basic information about the protein, and about the file itself. You can download the file, if you would like by clicking on the "Download Files" on the far right side of the structure summary page.

You don't have to do this step with our updated resources. We are very excited to present an online visualization program that eliminates the step of downloading structure files and computer visualization software. Take a look at this resource at http://cbm.msoe.edu/includes/jmol/SOJmols/2010PreBuild.html. This same type of environment will be provided on the day of the competition. This program is Jmol-based, which means that it will run on both PCs and Macs. Commands that you might be familiar with using RasMol can be used in Jmol as well. At the top of the computer visualization environment window, there is a link for a Jmol quick reference guide. This guide provides the most commonly used commands when designing molecules using Jmol. This link will be available during the onsite competitions as well.

Hope that this helps!

[Andy Hamm]

Hello,

I have a question about the Pre-Build for Protein Modeling. My students would like to build a small base to mount the protein model (mini-toober with attachments) that would have no functional significance; it would only be used for structural stability. Would this be allowed, or would it result in a point or tier reduction? The students are concerned about the stability of their creative additions and believe a model would provide support to the entire model, but we want to make sure it is legal before we build it.

Thank you and have a good day.

Andy Hamm
Boyceville Coach

[shannoncolton]

Yes, a support stand to stabilize the protein model is perfectly legit.