IN VIVO PROTEIN ENGINEERING SYSTEM

THERMOGEN, INC., WILL DEVELOP AN IN VIVO PROTEIN ENGINEERINGSYSTEM ALLOWING RAPID, RANDOM SHUFFLING OF PROTEIN DOMAINS TO PRODUCE NOVEL PROTEINS FORMED BY GENE FUSION. THIS SYSTEM WILL BE DESIGNED TO ALLOW GENERAL PRODUCTION OF CHIMERIC GENES WITH ALTERED FUNCTIONS, MAPPING OF FUNCTIONALDOMAINS IN A TARGET PROTEIN, AND CONSTRUCTION OF RANDOM LINKER INSERTIONS TO PROBE PROTEIN STRUCTURE. PHASE I WILL SHOW THE FEASIBILITY OF THE PROJECT BY CONSTRUCTING SPECIALLY DESIGNED TRANSPOSON ELEMENTS AND TESTING THEM WITH TWO MODEL PROTEINS. PHASE II WILL INVOLVEREFINEMENT OF THE IN VIVO SYSTEM TO ALLOW RANDOM DOMAIN INSERTION, FURTHER CHARACTERIZATION OF THE PRODUCTS DEVELOPED IN PHASE I, AND EXTENSION OF THE SYSTEM TO SEVERALOTHER COMMERCIALLY AND MEDICALLY INTERESTING FUSION PRODUCTS.