Protein Problem: Challenging A Fundamental Assumption in Evolutionary Biochemistry
May 01, 2025 —
Schematic representation of cofactor-bound Walker A P-loops. This figure is adapted from Demkiv et al., Mol. Biol. Evol. 2025, 42, msaf055, originally published under a CC-BY license.
How did life originate? Ancient proteins may hold important clues. Every organism on Earth is made up of proteins. Although all organisms — even single-celled ones — have complex protein structures now, this wasn’t always the case.
For years, evolutionary biochemists assumed that the most ancient proteins emerged from a simple signature, called a motif. New research, though, suggests that this motif, without the surrounding protein, isn’t as consequential as it seemed. The international team of researchers was led by Lynn Kamerlin, a professor in the Georgia Tech School of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Georgia Research Alliance Vasser Woolley Chair in Molecular Design, and Liam Longo, a specially appointed associate professor at Earth-Life Science Institute at Institute of Science Tokyo, in Japan.
“It’s probably an eroded molecular fossil, with its true nature having been overwritten over billions of years of evolution,” said Kamerlin. “This work completely reshapes how we think about proteins. It’s like trying to play protein Jeopardy! — now we need to rethink what the original question was.”
Prehistoric Proteins
It's not hard to understand why this hypothesis was wrong for so long. The motif is associated with the element phosphorus, one of the key elements of life. Many of the earliest proteins bound to phosphorus-containing compounds. While these early proteins have different structures, they frequently share the same motif.
“For years, researchers took this to mean that today’s complex proteins came from the motif itself — that this tiny protein gave rise to entire families,” Longo said.
To discover the protein’s origins, the researchers pored over available data on protein crystal structures. Then they identified and characterized relevant proteins computationally. Although they recognized some of the protein’s similar structure in their modeling, the motif was not identical. They found that many different types of phosphate-binding proteins were possible. The idea that this motif was somehow special on its own was false.
“We don’t hypothesize that eyes gave rise to heads, even though nearly all heads have eyes; that’s because seeing involves interlocking systems,” Kamerlin said. “Our early peptide presents a similar instance. Only embedding within the larger system allows it to shine.”
Protein Possibilities
The researchers tested this work in water and methanol environments. Methanol mimics environments on Earth that may have less water around. The researchers found comparable protein motifs in this methanol environment, proving that the famous motif was not unique, but rather one of many possible motifs with similar properties. What was assumed to be a building block of early life is probably just a fossil fragment — and not the complete picture.
Kamerlin and Longo’s work helps their field determine not just how life started but also bolsters biotechnology advancements. A better understanding of how natural proteins evolved will help other researchers create artificial proteins, for everything from drug delivery to new vaccines.
The work is far from finished. Now that the researchers know this protein motif is one of many possible options, the question becomes: When did this motif become dominant, and what else could life have looked like? These questions will help the scientific world make discoveries that could benefit everyone.
Funding from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation; the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) with subsidy funding from the Cabinet Office, Government of Japan; and the National Academic Infrastructure for Supercomputing in Sweden.
Tess Malone, Senior Research Writer/Editor
tess.malone@gatech.edu
Cyberinfrastructure & Services for Science and Engineering Workshop
Participants will also have the hands-on opportunity to explore the resources available for research through Georgia Tech PACE and through ACCESS.
Cyberinfrastructure & Services for Science and Engineering Workshop
Participants will also have the hands-on opportunity to explore the resources available for research through Georgia Tech PACE and through ACCESS.
Newly Named Children’s PTC at Georgia Tech Peterson Professorship Recipients Work to Improve the Lives of Kids in Georgia and Beyond
Apr 18, 2025 — Atlanta
Michelle LaPlaca (left), associate chair for Faculty Development and professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering; W. Hong Yeo, Harris Saunders, Jr. Professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering.
Georgia Tech professors Michelle LaPlaca and W. Hong Yeo have been selected as recipients of Peterson Professorships with the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Pediatric Technology Center (PTC) at Georgia Tech. The professorships, supported by the G.P. “Bud” Peterson and Valerie H. Peterson Faculty Endowment Fund, are meant to further energize the Georgia Tech and Children’s partnership by engaging and empowering researchers involved in pediatrics.
In a joint statement, PTC co-directors Wilbur Lam and Stanislav Emelianov said, “The appointment of Dr. LaPlaca and Dr. Yeo as Peterson Professors exemplifies the vision of Bud and Valerie Peterson — advancing innovation and collaboration through the Pediatric Technology Center to bring breakthrough ideas from the lab to the bedside, improving the lives of children and transforming healthcare.”
LaPlaca is a professor and associate chair for Faculty Development in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, a joint department between Georgia Tech and Emory University. Her research is focused on traumatic brain injury and concussion, concentrating on sources of heterogeneity and clinical translation. Specifically, she is working on biomarker discovery, the role of the glymphatic system, and novel virtual reality neurological assessments.
“I am thrilled to be chosen as one of the Peterson Professors and appreciate Bud and Valerie Peterson’s dedication to pediatric research,” she said. “The professorship will allow me to broaden research in pediatric concussion assessment and college student concussion awareness, as well as to identify biomarkers in experimental models of brain injury.”
In addition to the research lab, LaPlaca will work with an undergraduate research class called Concussion Connect, which is part of the Vertically Integrated Projects program at Georgia Tech.
“Through the PTC, Georgia Tech and Children’s will positively impact brain health in Georgia’s pediatric population,” said LaPlaca.
Yeo is the Harris Saunders, Jr. Professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the director of the Wearable Intelligent Systems and Healthcare Center at Georgia Tech. His research focuses on nanomanufacturing and membrane electronics to develop soft biomedical devices aimed at improving disease diagnostics, therapeutics, and rehabilitation.
“I am truly honored to be awarded the Peterson Professorship from the Children’s PTC at Georgia Tech,” he said. “This recognition will greatly enhance my research efforts in developing soft bioelectronics aimed at advancing pediatric healthcare, as well as expand education opportunities for the next generation of undergraduate and graduate students interested in creating innovative medical devices that align seamlessly with the recent NSF Research Traineeship grant I received. I am eager to contribute to the dynamic partnership between Georgia Tech and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and to empower innovative solutions that will improve the lives of children.”
The Peterson Professorships honor the former Georgia Tech President and First Lady, whose vision for the importance of research in improving pediatric healthcare has had an enormous positive impact on the care of pediatric patients in our state and region.
The Children’s PTC at Georgia Tech brings clinical experts from Children’s together with Georgia Tech scientists and engineers to develop technological solutions to problems in the health and care of children. Children’s PTC provides extraordinary opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration in pediatrics, creating breakthrough discoveries that often can only be found at the intersection of multiple disciplines. These collaborations also allow us to bring discoveries to the clinic and the bedside, thereby enhancing the lives of children and young adults. The mission of the PTC is to establish the world’s leading program in the development of technological solutions for children’s health, focused on three strategic areas that will have a lasting impact on Georgia’s kids and beyond.
New Wearable Device Monitors Skin Health in Real Time
Apr 14, 2025 —
The wireless device measures only two centimeters in length and one-and-a-half centimeters in width, and is the first of its kind to continuously monitor the skin's exchange of vapors with the environment.
From sun damage and pollution to cuts and infections, our skin protects us from a lot. But it isn’t impenetrable.
“We tend to think of our skin as being this impermeable barrier that’s just enclosing our body,” said Matthew Flavin, assistant professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. “Our skin is constantly in flux with the gases that are in our environment and our atmosphere.”
Led by the Georgia Institute of Technology, Northwestern University, and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), researchers have developed a novel wearable device that can monitor the flux of vapors through the skin, offering new insights into skin health and wound healing. This technology, detailed in a recent Nature publication, represents a significant advancement in the field of wearable bioelectronics.
“You could think of this being used where a Band-Aid is being used,” said Flavin, one of the lead authors of the study. The compact, wireless device is the first wearable technology able to continuously and precisely measure water vapor, volatile organic compounds, and carbon dioxide fluxes in the skin in real time. Because increases in these factors are associated with infection and delayed healing, Flavin notes that this kind of wireless monitoring “could give clinicians a new tool to understand the properties of the skin.”
The Measurement Barrier
Our skin is our first line of defense against environmental hazards. Measuring how effectively it protects us from harmful pollutants or infections has been a significant challenge, especially over extended periods.
“The vapors coming from your skin are in very, very low concentration,” explained Flavin. “If we just put a sensor next to your skin, it would be almost impossible to control that measurement.”
The new device features a small chamber that condenses and measures vapors from the skin using specialized sensors hovering above the skin. A low-energy, bi-stable mechanism periodically refreshes the air in the chamber, allowing for continuous measurements communicated to a smartphone or tablet through Bluetooth.
“There are other devices that can measure certain parts of what we're talking about here,” said Flavin, “but they are not feasible for a wearable device, can't do this continuously, and are not able to get all the information that our device can get.”
Scratching the Surface
By tracking the skin's water vapor flux, also known as transepidermal water loss, the device can assess skin barrier function and wound healing. This capability is particularly valuable for tracking the healing process in diabetic patients, who often have sensory issues that complicate wound monitoring. “What you see in diabetes is that even after the wound looks like it's healed, there's still a persistent impairment of that barrier,” said Flavin. This new non-invasive device tracks those properties.
“There are many areas where people don't have great access to healthcare, and there aren’t doctors monitoring wound healing processes,” Flavin added. “Something that can be used to monitor that remotely could make care more accessible to people with these conditions.”
The device’s wearable nature also makes it ideal for studying the long-term effects of exposure to environmental hazards like wildfires or chemical fumes on skin function and overall health.
Though the applications in health are numerous, the research team is continuing to explore different ways to use the device. “This measurement modality is very new and we're still learning what we can do with it,” saidJaeho Shin, a senior researcher at KIST and a co-leader of the study. “It's a new way of measuring what's inside the body.”
“This is a great example of the kind of technology that can emerge from research at the interface between engineering science and medical practice,” said John Rogers, a materials science professor at Northwestern and another co-leader of the study. “The capabilities provided by this device will not only improve patient care, but they will also lead to improved understanding of the skin, the skin microbiome, the processes of wound healing, and many others.”
As a new faculty member and a member of Georgia Tech’s Neuro Next Initiative, a burgeoning interdisciplinary research hub for neuroscience, neurotechnology, and society, Flavin attributes the success of this research to its interdisciplinary nature.
“A broad challenge we have in these fields of research is that they integrate a lot of different areas. One of the reasons I came to Georgia Tech is because it's a place where you have access to all those different areas of expertise.”
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08825-2
Funding: Querrey-Simpson Institute for Bioelectronics and the Center for Advanced Regenerative Engineering (CARE), Northwestern University; National Research Foundation of Korea; National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering.
Writer: Audra Davidson
Research Communications Program Manager
Neuro Next Initiative
Media contact: Angela Barajas Prendiville
Director
Institute Media Relations
Voices of the Mind: Short Documentaries on Brain-Based Conditions
Join us for a showcase of short documentaries created by Georgia Tech Students in Sociology of Medicine and Health under the direction of Dr. Jennifer Singh. The documentaries will highlight the lived experiences of living with brain-based conditions - from mental health to brain injury. All are welcome and refreshments will be provided.
3D Microchip Mimics Blood Clots, Potentially Enhancing Treatment Options
Apr 10, 2025 —
In a groundbreaking study published in Nature, researchers from Georgia Tech and Emory University have developed a new model that could enable precise, life-saving medication delivery for blood clot patients. The novel technique uses a 3D microchip
Wilbur Lam, professor at Georgia Tech and Emory University, and a clinician at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, led the study. He worked closely with Yongzhi Qiu, an assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine.
The significance of the thromboinflammation-on-a-chip model, is that it mimics clots in a human-like way, allowing them to last for months and resolve naturally. This model helps track blood clots and more effectively test treatments for conditions including sickle cell anemia, strokes, and heart attacks.
Amelia Neumeister | Research Communications Program Manager
14th Annual Southeastern Pediatric Research Conference
The 14th Annual Southeastern Pediatric Research Conference will showcase the breadth of pediatric research conducted throughout the southeastern United States. This year's conference will feature groundbreaking research from Emory University, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Georgia Tech, and Morehouse School of Medicine and will bring together basic scientists, clinical researchers, pediatricians, and healthcare providers to advance the integration of innovative research into clinical practice.
Neuro Next Initiative Seminar Social
Join us for the Neuro Next Initiative End-of-Year Reception on April 21 from 11:15 AM to 12:30 PM. This exciting event will feature the finalist presentations for the 2025 Neuro Next Initiative Student Research Award. Finalists will deliver engaging 3-minute flash talks showcasing their groundbreaking neuroscience research. Learn more about the award here.
Wired Lives: Personal Stories of Brain-Computer Interfaces
What is it like to live with a brain implant?