Ruth Astrid Olivia GräslundProfessor emerita

Spectroscopic studies of structure, dynamics and reactions of biological macromolecules.

Our research program has two parts: ribonucleotide reductase and bioactive peptides, including their membrane interactions. The aim is to relate structure, dynamics, and interactions studied by spectroscopy to the biological reactions and functions. Our methods are high resolution NMR, EPR, and optical spectroscopy including CD and fluorescence.

Group members

Nicklas Österlund, PhD student
 

Selected Publications

Löfgren, K., Wahlström, A., Lundberg, P., Langel, U., Gräslund, A. and Bedecs, K. Anti-prion properties of prion protein-derived cell-penetrating peptides. FASEB J. 22 (2008) 2177-2184.

Wahlström, A., Hugonin, L., Peralvarez-Marin, A., Jarvet, J. and Gräslund, A. Secondary structure conversions of Alzheimer´s Ab(1-40) peptide induced by membrane-mimicking detergents. FEBS J. 275 (2008) 5117-5128

Hugonin, L., Barth, A., Gräslund, A. and Peralvarez-Marin, A. Secondary structure transitions and aggregation induced in dynorphin neuropeptides by the detergent sodium dodecyl sulfate. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1778 (2008) 2580-2587.

Voevodskaya, N., Lendzian, F., Sanganas, O., Grundmeier, A, Gräslund, A. and Haumann, M. Redox intermediates of the Mn-Fe site in the subunit R2 of Chlamydia trachomatis ribonucleotide reductase: An X-ray absorption and EPR study. J. Biol. Chem. 284 (2009) 4555-4566.

Madani, F., Lind, J., Damberg, P., Adams, S.R., Tsien, R.Y. and Gräslund, A. Hairpin structure of a biarsenical-tetracysteine motif determined by NMR spectroscopy. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 131 (2009) 4613-4615.

Popovic-Bijelic, A., Voevodskaya, N., Domkin, V., Thelander, L. and Gräslund, A. Metal binding and activity of protein R2 mutants: conditions for formation of the mixed manganese-iron cofactor. Biochemistry, 48 (2009) 6532-6539.

Guterstam, P., Madani, F., Hirose, H., Takeuchi, T., Futaki, S., El Andaloussi, S., Gräslund, A. and Langel, Ü. Elucidating cell-penetrating peptide mechanisms of action for membrane interaction, cellular uptake and translocation, utilizing the hydrophobic counter-anion pyrenebutyrate. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1788 (2009) 2509-2517.

Zhang, X., Oglecka, K., Sandgren, S., Belting, M., Esbjörner-Winters, E., Norden, B. and Gräslund, A. Dual functions of the human antimicrobial peptide LL-37 – Target membrane perturbation and host cell cargo delivery. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1798 (2010) 2201-2208.

Lendel, C., Bolognesi, B., Wahlstrom, A., Dobson, C. and Gräslund, A. Detergent-like interaction of congo red with the amyloid bpeptide. Biochemistry 49 (2010) 1358-1360.

Lindgren, J., Wahlström, A., Danielsson, J., Markova, N., Ekblad, C., Gräslund, A., Abrahamsén, L., Eriksson Karlström, A., and Wärmländer, S. N-terminal engineering of amyloid-beta-binding Affibody molecules yeilds improved chemical synthesis and higher binding affinity. Protein Sci. 19 (2010) 2319-2329.

Funding Sources

These studies are supported by grants from the Swedish Science Council,  the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research, and the Swedish Brain Foundation