My name is Guangming Chen. You can call me Guangming but not Chen or Ming, because the village I was born everyone is called Chen and all my cousins have a Ming in their names. I come from FoShan, China. It is the hometown of Bruce Lee and his Shifu, YeWen (lower photo). For more, please go to Google. I love biochemistry, but I’m not good at it at all, that’s why I study science. Sorry, this is how Chinese philosophy works! Study something you are already good at is just a waste of your time, right?
I have been in the states since August 2012, and I just started my PhD project on human Tyrosylprotein sulfotransferases (TPSTs). These enzymes catalyze the reaction of tyrosine O-sulfation, a post-translational modification, in the trans-Golgi network. This modification plays important roles in inflammatory response, immunity and HIV entry. However, the modification motif is not fully understood, which makes the prediction of target substrates difficult. The aim of my project is to identify all putative substrates across the genome by using peptide library and proteomic approaches. To gain insight to the catalytic mechanism, we also plan to crystallize TPST1 and TPST2 from a mammalian expression system.
Since I joined the lab, I have nearly destroyed the FPLC and X-ray facility. Don’t be too surprised, this is the way that I learned how things work, also my Taiji.
The College of Arts