Medicinal Protein Engineering

AnAll-Inclusive Review of the Achievements and Trends in the Fast-Growing Protein Engineering Field

From humble beginnings like making fire for mere survival, engineering now steadfastly penetrates all aspects of our lives and even life itself at the molecular level. Protein engineering is a molecular biological discipline focused on designing and constructing novel proteins with desired properties. The currently limited understanding of the relationship between protein structure and function greatly hinders rational protein design. However, despite great challenges, protein engineering has become a major molecular discipline with a large array of successful applications to many complex medicinal problems.

Medicinal Protein Engineering sheds light on this largely unchartered field, covering major strategies for engineering of proteins with predetermined biological properties. It discusses computational approaches to protein design and experimental approaches to protein construction. This volume also explores the tight connection between protein and genetic engineering. It moves researchers beyond experimental protein construction and theoretical protein design to the medicinal applications of engineered proteins.

Examines Medicinal Applications of Protein Engineering for the Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prevention of Diseases

Focusing on the application of protein engineering to medicine, this seminal work outlines the appropriate techniques for studying protein properties and building mathematical engineering models of novel vaccines, diagnostic reagents, and therapeutic treatments. As a truly comprehensive assessment of the medical protein engineering research available and its future implications for disease control and prevention, this is an indispensable reference for biological researchers in this groundbreaking

Computational Approaches. Web Resources for Protein Analysis. Artificial Neural Networks for Therapeutic Protein Engineering. Phylogenetics and Medicinal Protein Engineering. Clustering and Classification Approaches to Identifying Protein Properties. Analysis of Coordinated Substitutions in Proteins. Protein Engineering Targets: Vaccine. Tuning the Immune Response to Our Advantage: Design of Vaccines with Tailored Functions. Modification of HIV-1 Envelope Glycoprotein to Enhance Immunogenicity. Engineering Better Influenza Vaccines: Traditional and New Approaches. Construction of Novel Vaccines on the Basis of Virus-Like Particles: Hepatitis B Virus Proteins as Vaccine Carriers. Polyomavirus-Derived Virus-Like Particles. Papillomavirus-Derived Virus-Like Particles. Recombinant Vaccines Against Hepatitis Viruses. Protein Engineering Targets: Diagnostics and Therapy. Designer Diagnostic Reagents and Allergens. Peptide-Based Diagnostic Assays. Recombinant Antibodies. Protein Engineering for HIV Therapeutics. Recombinant Enzymes with New and Improved Properties. Special Expression Systems. Production of Pharmaceutical Compounds in Plants. Plant Virus Biotechnology Platforms for Expression of Medicinal Proteins. Alphaviruses: Multiplicity of Vectors and Their Promising Application as Vaccines and Cancer Therapy Agents. Index.