Hydration Structures of Proteins

Masayoshi Nakasako is a professor at Keio University, and his work involves structural analysis of soft matter. He received his Doctor of Science from Tohoku University in 1990. After his doctoral program, he was a research associate at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokyo; a researcher at RIKEN; a lecturer at the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, The University of Tokyo; and an assistant professor at Keio University in 2002. In 2005, he was promoted to his present position. Currently, he also serves Spring-8 Center, RIKEN, as a guest researcher.His research interest is in imaging of protein hydration, protein structures, and cells by various physicochemical experimental techniques including X-ray imaging using synchrotron radiation and X-ray free electron laser and molecular dynamics simulations.

• Introduction.- Biophysical methods to visualize hydration structures of proteins.- Hydration structures inside proteins.- Hydration layer around proteins.- Structural characteristics in local hydration.- Prediction of hydration structures.- Network of hydrogen bonds around proteins.- Dipole-Dipole interactions in hydration layer.- Hydration structure changes of proteins at work.- Energy landscape and hydration of proteins.