Museum Floor

An exibit using the protein Villin as an example has been developed to inform the public on protein folding based on the research of Prof. Pande’s group in which computer simulations are used to model protein folding. The specific protein, Villin, must be folded correctly to bind to the receptor tissue. The Villin protein is displayed as a physical model that can be manipulated at a few points. These manipulating points allow the visitor to change how the model folds. When the protein model is folded correctly, it will be made to magnetically bind to the receptor site. It is critical that the visitor understands that the correct folding allows it to bind to the receptor site, which in turn allows the protein-substrate to function correctly. An interactive presentation has also been developed as part of the exhibit and accompanies the model on the museum floor.

 image linking to "exploratorium presentation" page (ppt)

A user-interactive presentation located next to the model kiosk.
image linking to a photo of the model at the presentation(ppt)
   
 

This work was supported by the Center on Polymer Interfaces and Macromolecular Assemblies (CPIMA)
as part of the NSF Materials Science and Engineering Center program under Grant DMR 9808677

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