WISE/Science Internships

The Beguiling Beauty of

Biology

Picture above: Bacteriophage

By Emma Nason Head of Science

Who would have thought that the biology of the microscopic would be so beautiful? Professor Ivan Viola, along with Ph.D. students Roden Luo and Ngan Nguyen and Research Scientist Ondrej Strnad from the Nanovisualization Lab at KAUST University, have been examining the structural biology of several large proteins complexes.

TKS Grade 11 & 12 students John Winfer, Aeliya Syed, Paul Ekers, and Leon Thistle have been privileged to have worked with this world-class team as part of a WISE internship. This incredibly unique opportunity to work with a university-level research laboratory is one of the many ways in which TKS expands and elevates learning opportunities for students through our partnership with KAUST University.

One of the complexes being studied is the bacteriophage. A bacteriophage is a virus that infects bacteria. It has an other-worldly construction that is more akin to a spaceship! The ‘legs’ allow the virus to ‘land’ and attach to the surface of the bacterium. The ‘body’ is built using repeated protein subunits generated with stunning icosahedral symmetry. This body contains the genetic information needed for viral replication that gets inserted into the bacterium. Other scientists from around the world have solved the atomic structure of the individual proteins of the bacteriophage - known as T4.

Ivan and his team, along with the TKS interns, have now used the atomic level data to build up a 3-dimensional model of the T4 using an in-house modeling tool called MesoCraft.

TKS students have not only had the ability to brush shoulders with the top-level academics but have also gained high-level skills that are not normally available at school. By utilizing resources available at KAUST, TKS provides a more personalized, empowered, and collaborative learning experience for our students, which will pay dividends as they enter their adult workforce.

View full project details by Deng Luo, Ph.D. Student, Computer Science at KAUST.