Understanding how proteins move to cause disease and help design better treatments
Official title: Physics-based characterization of functionally relevant protein conformational dynamics
Funded at University of Arkansas at Fayetteville · NIH-11394479 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This grant studies how proteins change shape and move, using advanced computer simulations, to learn more about diseases and potential therapies.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Arkansas at Fayetteville NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Fayetteville, United States) |
| Project start | September 15, 2022 |
| Project end | August 31, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $363,284 |
| NIH project number | 5R35GM147423-05 |
| Project ID | NIH-11394479 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Not applicable to patients directly; the work informs disease biology and therapeutic development.
✕Less likely to help
No direct patient involvement or clinical testing is described.
What this research studies
Researchers will use state-of-the-art computer simulations to model how proteins shift between shapes that affect their function. They plan to tailor and combine advanced sampling methods to capture rare but important movements in proteins, including viral spike proteins relevant to coronaviruses. The work aims to create reliable protocols for studying these movements and to apply them to proteins such as fibroblast growth factor receptors and coronavirus spike proteins. The project is methodology-rich but grounded in real biological questions with potential implications for drug design and understanding disease mechanisms.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the methods could accelerate discovering how proteins change shape in disease and aid in developing better treatments.
How similar studies have gone: Previous studies have shown that enhanced sampling and path-finding methods can reveal important protein motions, supporting the potential of this approach.
Where this research is happening
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University of Arkansas at Fayetteville
Fayetteville, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Moradi, Mahmoud — University of Arkansas at Fayetteville
- Study coordinator: Moradi, Mahmoud
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.