Department of Biology, 68-322
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA 02139
77 Massachusetts Avenue
(617) 252-1876
swraso@mit.edu
|
Postdoctoral Research |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA. |
|
Ph.D. |
Chemistry, 1997; Texas A&M University, College Station, TX. |
|
Dissertation: The Use of Mutant Enzymes to Probe the Structure, Function and Folding Pathway of Bacterial Luciferase. |
|
|
B.S. |
Chemistry & Biology, 1991; University of Massachusetts at Boston. |
RESEARCH AND EXPERIENCE
|
1990-91 |
Undergraduate Researcher. Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts/Boston. |
|
Advisor: Prof. Robert Gelb. |
|
|
Determined binding equilibria of small molecules with b-cyclodextrin. |
|
1991-95 |
Teaching Assistant. Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University. |
|
Taught and supervised undergraduate organic chemistry laboratory classes. |
|
1992-97 |
Graduate Student Researcher. Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University. |
|
Advisor: Prof. Thomas Baldwin. |
|
|
Studied the kinetics and thermodynamics of protein subunit folding and assembly, using bacterial luciferase as a model system. Analyzed luciferase structure and function relationships with respect to the specific chemical mechanism of bioluminescence. Supervised several undergraduate researchers. |
|
1997- |
Postdoctoral Associate. Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. |
|
Advisor: Prof. Jonathan King. |
|
|
Used Raman spectroscopy to identify several native cysteine environments in the bacteriophage P22 tailspike protein. Studying the specific aggregation mechanism and conformational dynamics of human granulocyte-colony stimulating factor. Working to elucidate the possible role of cysteine thiols in protein folding and aggregation reactions. Currently supervising undergraduate research. |
HONORS AND AWARDS
|
1993-97 |
Robert A. Welch Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship |
|
1994 |
Inducted to Phi Lambda Upsilon Chemical Honor Society |
|
1995 |
Texas A&M Biochemistry Graduate Association Travel
Grant |
|
1997 |
Texas A&M Biochemistry Graduate Association Travel Grant |
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
1992-96 Texas A&M Graduate Student Association of Chemistry.
Recruited and advised new graduate students; Participated in
educational outreach activities, such as state and local
school science fairs and chemistry demonstrations. 1994-97 Phi Lambda Upsilon. Assisted in fund raising events;
Participated in state and local school science fairs and
educational programs. 1998- MIT Biotechnology Process Engineering Center (BPEC).
Student Leadership Council member. The main purpose of the
BPEC Student Leadership Council is to institute policies
that foster interdisciplinary interaction --particularly
between the departments of Chemical Engineering, Chemistry
and Biology. The Council also organizes a weekly seminar
series, maintains the Center's web page, and stimulates
direct involvement of the biotechnology industry in
BPEC-sponsored events.
Professional Societies
American Chemical Society
Biophysical Society
Protein Society
Society for Applied Spectroscopy
CURRENT COLLABORATIONS
Dr. David Brems
Department of Pharmaceutics, Amgen, Inc., Thousand Oaks, CA.
Aggregation mechanism of human granulocyte-colony stimulating
factor.
Prof. George J. Thomas, Jr.
School of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Kansas City,
MO.
Raman analysis of the bacteriophage P22 tailspike protein.
PUBLICATIONS
1. Christopher, J. A., Raso, S. W., Ziegler, M. M. & Baldwin T. O. (1995) Enzymes. In: Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, A Comprehensive Desk Reference (R. A. Meyers, ed.), pp. 295 - 301 VCH Publishers, New York.
2. Raso, S. W., Christopher, J. A., Ziegler, M. M. & Baldwin T. O. (1996) Enzymes: The Energetics and Regulation of Biological Catalysis. In: The Encyclopedia of Molecular Biology and Molecular Medicine (R. A. Meyers, ed.), vol. 2, pp. 222 - 240, VCH Publishers, New York.
3. Clark. A. C., Raso, S. W., Sinclair, J. F., Ziegler, M. M., Chaffotte, A. F. & Baldwin, T. O. (1997) Kinetic Mechanism of Luciferase Subunit Folding and Assembly, Biochemistry 36, 1891-1899.
4. Raso, S. W., Chlumsky, L. J. & Baldwin, T. O. (1997) The Role of aAsp113 in Stabilizing the Active Site of Bacterial Luciferase, Protein Engineering 10 (suppl.), 33.
5. Raso, S. W., Christopher, J. A. & Baldwin, T. O. (1998) Luciferins. In: The Encyclopedia of Chemistry (J. J. Lagowski, ed.), pp. 874 - 878, Macmillan Publishing Co., New York.
6. Christopher, J. A., Raso, S. W. & Baldwin, T. O. (1999) Chemiluminescence. In: The Encyclopedia of Molecular Biology (T. E. Creighton, ed.), vol. 1, pp. 401-402, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York.
7. Christopher, J. A., Raso, S. W. & Baldwin, T. O. (1999) Luciferases and Luciferins. In: The Encyclopedia of Molecular Biology (T. E. Creighton, ed.), vol. 3, pp. 1411-1515, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York.
8. Christopher, J. A., Raso, S. W. & Baldwin, T. O. (1999) Luminescence. In: The Encyclopedia of Molecular Biology (T. E. Creighton, ed.), vol. 3, p. 1415, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York.
9. Raso, S. W. & King, J., (2000) Protein Folding and Human Disease. In: Mechanisms of Protein Folding: Frontiers in Molecular Biology, 2nd edition (R. H. Pain, ed.), pp406-428, IRL/Oxford Press, London.
10.Haase-Pettingell, C., Betts, S., Raso, S.W., Stuart, L., Robinson, A. and King, J. (2001) Role for cysteine residues in the in vivo folding and assembly of the phage P22 tailspike. Protein Science, 10, 397-410.
11.Raso, S.W., Clark, P.L., Haase-Pettingell, C., King, J. and Thomas, G.J., Jr. (2001) cysteine sulfhydryl environments of phage P22 tailspike rimer: analysis of raman S-H markers of Cys —› Ser mutant proteins. J. Mol. Biol., in press.
12.Raso, S. W., Abel, J., Barnes, J. M., Maloney, K. M., Pipes, G., Treuheit, M. J., King, J. & Brems, D. N. Aggregation of Recombinant Human Granulocyte-Colony Stimulating Factor Involves a Conformationally Altered Monomeric Intermediate. (manuscript in preparation)