Researchers synthesize protein critical to red blood cell production
Monday, November 12, 2012 - 08:00
in Biology & Nature
(Phys.org)—Researchers in the group of Centennial Professor of Chemistry, Samuel Danishefsky, have synthesized what is arguably the largest and most complex biological molecule ever assembled by the methods of organic chemistry. The molecule is a version of erythropoietin (EPO), a protein critical to the production of red blood cells in mammals and consisting of a folded chain of 166 amino acids with carbohydrates attached at well-defined sites along the chain.