Biophysical characterization of synthesized fluorescently labeled biologically relevant phospholipids

The chemical synthesis of lipids with defined fatty acid side chains in terms of chain length and the degree of saturation/unsaturation is important to provide high-quality products for life science research. When dyes are added to the lipids, they can be used to a variety of biomedically relevant experiments by measuring be color and amount of signal collected in a light detector. Moreover, very important lipids need to be isolated and purified from natural sources. One class of these lipids, called plasmalogens, has become very important to better understand brain diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
The intern will perform detailed analyses of these synthetic and isolated lipids. These studies will provide a better understanding of the structure and function of lipids and their role in biomembranes. The partner organization will benefit from a series of optimized protocols to produce biologically highly relevant molecules with the potential for new markets.

Faculty Supervisor:

Elmar Josef Prenner

Student:

Patrick Lai

Partner:

Rane Pharmaceutical

Discipline:

Biology

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Calgary