Active projects
Structural Biology of Allergens
Investigations regarding sequence and structural determinants of allergenicity, allergen motifs, and database mining for identification of potential allergens. Contributors: Ovidiu Ivanciuc, Surendra Negi, Catherine H. Schein, Terumi Midoro-Horiuti, Randall M. Goldblum, Werner Braun.
PCPMer — Motif Detection
A software tool for automatic motif detection in protein families and identification of related family members in protein sequence databases. Contributors: Bin Zhou, Venkatarajan Mathura, Petr Danecek, Catherine H. Schein, Werner Braun.
DNA Repair
Molecular recognition of DNA damage sites by apurinic/apyrimidinic endonucleases. Contributors: Catherine H. Schein, Numan Oezguen, Tadehide Izumi, David Power, Werner Braun.
FANTOM — Molecular Modeling
Software for efficient molecular modeling of proteins in torsional angle space. Contributors: Kizhake Soman, Werner Braun.
NOAH/DIAMOD — NMR Structure Determination
Programs for automated 2D/3D protein NOESY spectrum assignment and 3D structure determination. Contributors: Numan Oezguen, Catherine H. Schein, Werner Braun.
MPACK — Homology Modeling
Homology modeling package integrating PCPMer, EXDIS, DIAMOD, and FANTOM. Contributors: Venkatarajan Mathura, Surendra Negi, Numan Oezguen, Werner Braun.
Motif and Molego Analysis
A GUI-interfaced program to search for consistent patterns in multiple aligned sequences. Contributors: Surendra Negi, Catherine H. Schein, Werner Braun.
Bacillus anthracis Project
Sequence decomposition of the 3 toxins of B. anthracis to identify conserved residues and guide design of novel inhibitors. Contributors: Deliang Chen, Catherine H. Schein, Johnny W. Peterson, Werner Braun.
Key goals
Our long-term goals are to understand the molecular mechanisms for the function and antigenic properties of proteins by analyzing the increasing amount of data from genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics projects with novel bioinformatics tools. Specific focus areas include allergen structural biology, vaccine design for emerging infectious diseases, and computational methods for epitope and toxin prediction.