Ana J. Iriarte
Associate Professor Emeritus, MBB
Ph.D. University of Navarre, Spain
Office: 422 SCB
Phone: (816) 235-2259
E-mail: IriarteA
Research Areas
Enzyme structure and relationship of enzyme structure to function. Mechanisms of processing and transport of proteins across membranes. Protein folding and the role of molecular chaperones.
Current Interests
"Our research interests are focused on the analysis of the folding mechanisms of large, oligomeric proteins and the role of molecular chaperones in the control of protein folding and assembly. We have selected for our studies two cofactor-dependent proteins which are well characterized structurally, the cytosolic and mitochondrial isoenzymes of mammalian aspartate aminotransferase. These two proteins have very similar amino acid sequence and almost identical three-dimensional structure, yet they fold with very different kinetics. Our main goal is to understand the molecular basis for the distinct folding behavior of these homologous proteins as well as for the differences observed in their interactions with a variety of molecular chaperones."
