E. James Petersson

Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Chemical Biology

Office: 350 N
Phone: 215-746-2221
Email: ejpeterssonsasupennedu

Jump to: Research Statement | Education and Academic History | Selected Publications

Research Statement
The Petersson lab is interested in understanding and controlling conformational changes in neuronal signaling proteins. At synapses, membrane proteins like ion channels must facilitate the communication of extracellular chemical signals to the nerve cell's interior. These proteins have been carefully tuned by nature so that a small perturbation, such as ligand binding, is sufficient to induce conformational changes at sites as much as 80 Å away from the binding site. Understanding the mechanisms by which conformational changes propagate through these large signaling proteins is an important problem in macromolecular chemistry as well as neurobiology. We are particularly interested in glutamate receptors, which have been shown to be important to memory formation. Furthermore, glutamate receptors play roles in a number of neurological disorders, including ischemic stroke, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer's disease. We wish to not only study isolated receptors from a biophysical point of view, but also to design methods for specifically controlling signaling in living systems. To carry out these studies, we will develop new chemical techniques for manipulating protein structure in addition to applying currently available techniques in novel ways.

Education and Academic History

Selected Publications
From Yale University

Petersson, E. J.; Schepartz, A. “Toward â-Amino Acid Proteins: Design, Synthesis, and Characterization of a 15-Kilodalton â-Peptide Tetramer” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2008, 120, 821-823.

Petersson, E. J.; Craig, C. J.; Daniels, D. S.; Qiu, J.; Schepartz, A. “Biophysical Characterization of a â-Peptide Bundle: Comparison to Natural Proteins“ J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2007, 129, 5344-5345.

Daniels, D. S.; Petersson, E. J.; Qiu, J.; Schepartz, A. “High Resolution Structure of a â-Peptide Bundle” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2007, 129, 1532-1533.
Selected as one of the “Highlights of 2007” by Chemical and Engineering News. Also featured in HHMI News Bulletin, MIT’s Technology Review, Biomedical Beat, DrugResearcher.com, and Chemistry World.

From Caltech

McMenimen, K. A.; Petersson, E. J.; Lester, H. A.; Dougherty D. A. “Probing the Mg2+ Blockade Site of the NMDA Receptor with Unnatural Amino Acid Mutagenesis” ACS Chem. Biol. 2006, 1, 227-234.

Cashin, A. L.; Petersson, E. J.; Lester, H. A.; Dougherty, D. A. “Using Physical Chemistry to Differentiate Nicotinic from Cholinergic Agonists at the Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor“ J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2005, 127, 350-356.

Petersson, E. J.; Choi, A.; Dahan, D. S.; Lester, H. A.; Dougherty, D. A. “A Perturbed pKa at the Binding Site of the Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor: Implications for Nicotine Binding “ J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2002, 124, 12662-12663.