Brandt Laboratory
Research
The estrogen receptors interact with the
“female” sex steroid hormones to regulate normal growth and development
in both genders. In addition, the estrogen receptors are implicated in
the initiation and growth of several types of tumors, of which breast
cancer is the most common. Binding of ligand to the estrogen receptor
is known to alter the shape of the protein in ways that alter its
function. However, the details of this conformational change in the
protein are incompletely understood. In order to examine these changes,
we express the ligand-binding domain of the estrogen receptor in
bacteria. The bacterial expression allows us to produce the protein in
large quantities, and allows us to produce modified forms of the
protein with novel properties. We then characterize ligand binding and
its effects on the protein structure using fluorescence spectroscopy;
we recently obtained grant funding from NSF and have purchased a
state-of-the-art spectrofluorometer for these studies. Work in the
laboratory involves DNA manipulation molecular biological techniques
for generating new mutant expression plasmids, protein purification,
and HPLC-based and fluorescence-based experiments for characterizing
the estrogen receptor protein.
