Quantum Computation and Information Seminar 

25/09/2009, 15:00 — 16:00 — Room P4.35, Mathematics Building
Leonor Cruzeiro, U Algarve

Quantum Vibrational Excited States and Protein Function

Proteins are the machines of life since they mediate essentially all the physical and chemical processes that go on in living cells. Many of them function by changing conformation. Here it is proposed that the triggers of protein conformational changes are quantum vibrational excited states (the VES hypothesis). In the Davydov/Scott model it is further assumed that the vibrational excited state behind protein function is the amide I mode of peptide groups. In this talk, the Davydov/Scott model for energy transfer in proteins will be introduced and then applications of the VES hypothesis to several biological processes such as energy transfer in proteins and protein misfolding, will be presented.