Enzyme Kinetics and Receptor Binding

Catalog description

This course teaches both the theoretical framework and practical aspects of enzyme kinetics and receptor binding studies. Topics covered include basic steady state kinetics including the determination and meaning of Km and Vmax values for simple and multisubstrate reactions, determination binding properties and kinetic consequences of common reversible inhibitors (competitive, non-competitive, uncompetitive, mixed), slow-on, slow-off inhibitors and irreversible inactivators. Dissociation constants and procedures for determining them will be discussed for both enzymes and macromolecular receptors. Practical methodologies for determining pre-steady state kinetics will be presented. Practical aspects of designing kinetic studies will be discussed and later sessions of the course will involve reading and student-led discussions of studies in the literature that illustrate ways in which studies of enzyme kinetics or receptor binding advanced the study of particular enzymes and other macromolecules. Over the six-week duration of the course each student will prepare a short report in which he or she describes the design and, if possible, execution of a series of kinetic or receptor binding studies that draw on the teachings of the course and are related to the work each proposes to carry out for a dissertation.