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SWOSU Professor Jason Johnson Receives $33,000 Research Grant

July 26, 2010

Dr. Jason Johnson (second from left), professor in the Department of Chemistry and Physics at Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford, was recently awarded a $33,043 research grant from the National Institutes of Health through the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. Among those on hand were (from left): SWOSU President Randy Beutler; Dr. Lori Gwyn, director, SWOSU Office of Sponsored Programs; and SWOSU Senior Vice President and Provost Dr. Blake Sonobe.

Dr. Jason Johnson, professor in the Department of Chemistry and Physics at Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford, was recently awarded a $33,043 INBRE grant from the National Institutes of Health through the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center for basic research.

Dr. Johnson's project, entitled "Allosteric Mechanisms of Synchronization with the Triad GATs," supports biomedical/biochemical research at SWOSU, exposing students to core techniques in recombinant DNA technology, protein expression and purification, enzyme kinetics, and steady-state/time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy.  

Specifically, the project aims to unravel the mechanisms of communication driving the coordination of multiple active sites within the amidotransferase family of enzymes.   Ultimately, knowledge of such structure/function relationships will facilitate the further development of anti-cancer, anti-viral, and anti-parasitic pharmaceuticals based on their control, according to Johnson.