Mat Sowa's "Wicked" Cool Homepage

• Graduate student, Structural and Computational Biology & Molecular Biophysics Program
  
• Lab of Theodore G. Wensel, PhD.
• Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
• Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030
• ms691994@bcm.tmc.edu




 

What the Lab Does:

In the Wensel Lab, we study signal transduction, specifically those pathways involving heterotrimeric G proteins. The focus of our research is the phototransduction cascade found in mammalian rod cell photoreceptors. This system, in addition to being of obvious health importance, provides a model system for studying G protein coupled signal transduction since there is only one pathway present. This is in contrast to other cell types where many pathways exist within the same cell. Just click on the icon for a more detailed explanation of the system and the proteins that comprise it.  

What I Do:

My Research in the lab includes:

• Computational Identification of Protein Active Sites



• Site-Directed Mutagenesis Studies based on Computational Predictions



• Cryo-Electron Microscopy and 3D Image Reconstruction

Publications:

Olivier Lichtarge and Mathew E. Sowa. Evolutionary Predictions of Binding Surfaces and Interactions. Curr. Opin. Struc. Biol. 2002; 12:21-27

Srinivasan Madabushi, Hui Yao, Mike Marsh, David M. Kristensen, Anne Philippi, Mathew E. Sowa, and Olivier Lichtarge. Clusters of Evolutionary Trace Residues are Statistically Significant and Common in Proteins. J. Mol. Biol. 2002, Feb. 8(1); Vol. 316:139-154

Yoshikazu Imanishi, Ning Li, Izabela Sokal, Mathew E. Sowa, Olivier Lichtarge, Theodore G. Wensel, David A. Saperstein, Wolfgang Baehr, and Krzysztof Palczewski. Characterization of Retinal Guanylate cyclase-Activating protein 3 (GCAP3) From Zebrafish to Man. Eur. J. Neurosci. 2002; 15:63-78

Lichtarge, O, Sowa, ME, & Philippi, A. "Evolutionary Traces of Functional Surfaces Along the G protein Signaling Pathway." Methods Enzymol.  2002; 344:536-56.

Sowa ME, He W, Slep KC, Kercher MA, Lichtarge O, & Wensel TG. "Prediction and conformation of a site critical for regulation of RGS domain activity". Nature Struct. Biol. 2001 Mar; 8(3):234-237


Sowa ME, He W, Wensel TG, Lichtarge O. "A regulator of G protein signaling interaction surface linked to effector specificity." Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2000 Feb 15; 97(4):1483-8.

Melia TJ, Sowa ME, Schutze L, Wensel TG. "Formation of helical protein assemblies of IgG and transducin on varied lipid tubules." J Struct Biol. 1999 Dec 1; 128(1):119-30.