A patented method for better protein research David Petering, a distinguished professor of chemistry and biochemistry, has patented a technique that will unlock new avenues in protein-related research. For biochemists, proteins are crucial to examining a cell’s structure and function. “We are trying to understand the functions that take place in the cell, what the cell is doing and what reactions are taking place,” Petering says. “Those are all basically carried out by proteins.” So biochemists need to isolate proteins to study their activities David Petering and structure, whether for fundamental research, the development of medicines or finding a cure for a disease. “We can spend a lifetime working on pretty small areas of what’s going on in a cell,” Petering says, “because it’s just so complicated to get structure and function information.” In traditional procedures, proteins could be separated, but the structure and function weren’t adequately maintained for carrying out further testing. A current commercial alternative enables researchers to maintain a protein’s function and structure, but it leads to poor separation and a smearing of proteins. However, Petering’s laboratory has devised a new method of separating proteins while maintaining their three-dimensional structure and functional activity. “This allows you to do functional studies along with just separating and identifying the fact that a protein is present,” Petering explains. “We did something very simple and found this sweet spot where we kept the native features of the protein without losing the ability to separate it.” This allows for important new experiments to be conducted and provides a better understanding of proteins. Petering has been awarded a patent for the method, which he developed along with graduate students Drew Nowakowski and William Wobig. With patent in hand, Petering, who has been at UWM since 1971, is working with the UWM Research Foundation to commercialize the method. “It’s not a magic bullet,” Petering says, “but it gives us another powerful tool to use in trying to gather information.” By Rich Rovito, University Relations 8 • IN FOCUS • June, 2019
A Celestial Sma Nearly two years after detecting gravitational waves from a neutron star collision, three detectors – the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory and the European-based Virgo detector – have found waves from two other such sources. The gravitational waves detected April 25 also appear to be from a crash between two neutron stars — the dense remnants of massive stars that previously exploded. Then, on April 26, the LIGO-Virgo network spotted another candidate wave-source with a potentially interesting twist: It may, in fact, have resulted from the collision of a neutron star and black hole, an event never before witnessed. “The universe is keeping us on our toes,” says Patrick Brady, spokesperson for the LIGO Scientific Collaboration and a professor of physics at the University of WisconsinMilwaukee. “We’re especially curious about the April 26 candidate. Unfortunately, the signal is rather weak. It’s like listening to somebody whisper a word in a busy café; it can be difficult to make out the word or even to be sure that the person whispered at all. It will take some time to reach a conclusion about this candidate.” Realizing potential With these new discoveries, the LIGO-Virgo collaborations are realizing their potential of regularly producing discoveries that were once impossible, National Science Foundation Director France Cordova said. The discoveries come just weeks after LIGO and Virgo turned back on. The twin detectors of LIGO — one in Washington state and one in Louisiana — along with Virgo, located in Italy, resumed operations April 1, after undergoing a series of upgrades to increase their sensitivities to gravitational waves — ripples in space and time. Each detector now surveys larger volumes of the universe than before, searching for extreme events such as smashups between black holes and neutron stars. In addition to the two new candidates involving neutron stars, the LIGO-Virgo network has, in this latest run, spotted three likely black hole mergers. In total, since making history with the first-ever direct detection of gravitational waves in 2015, the network has spotted evidence for two neutron star mergers, 13 black hole mergers and one possible black hole-neutron star merger. “With these observations we are performing a census of the black hole and neutron star binaries in the universe,”
