Name: Miss Supansa Pantoom
Education : 2004-present Ph. D., Biochemistry, GPA: 3.72/4.00, Suranaree University of Technology, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand
2000-2004 B.S., Biochemistry with second class honors, Khonkean Univerity, Khonkean, Thailand
SCHOLARSHIPS, HONORS AND AWARDS
2008-2010 The Royal Golden Jubilee Ph.D. Program scholarship
2009-2010 Max-Planck Institute Fellowship, Dortmund, Germany
The Thailand Research Fund (TRF)
2004-2006 SUT Out Standing Acadamic Performance Scholarship
2003-2004 Research Project for Undergraduate Students Award (RPUS)
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
2004-2010 Ph.D., Biochemistry
1) Studies of ligand bindings, and three dimensional structures of chitinase A
from Vibrio harveyi in complex with potential inhibitors.
2) Studies the effect of the point mutation of two important active site binding residues of chitinase A on substrate binding and hydrolytic activity.
3) Studies the protein-ligand binding of inactive mutant of chitinase A (E315M and E315Q) against oligo-NAG substrates using fluorescence spectroscopy.
4) Studies the functional roles of the surface exposed residues at the chitin binding domain of chitinase A from Vibrio harveyi on the substrate binding and enzyme hydrolytic properties.
2003-2004 B.S., Biochemistry
Optimized condition in gene transferring to zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos by the electroporation method.
EXPERIMENTAL SKILLS
1) Molecular cloning, large-scale protein expression/purification and protein characterization.
2) Enzyme kinetic and enzyme inhibition studies using spectrophotometric and fluorometric assay, quenching of intrinsic fluorescence and isothermal titration calorimetric technique.
3) Protein crystallization and structure determination using software CCP4, COOT and Pymol.
4) Bioinformatics of protein analysis.
PUBLICATIONS
Pantoom S., Songsiriritthigul C. and Suginta W. The effects of the surface-exposed residues on the binding and hydrolytic activities of Vibrio harveyi chitinase A. BMC Biochemistry. 9, 1-11(2008). (published)
Songsiriritthigul C., Pantoom S., Aguda A. H., Robinson R. C. and Suginta W. Crystal structures of Vibrio harveyi chitinase A complexed with chitooligosaccharides: Implications for the catalytic mechanism. Journal of Structural Biology. 162, 491-499(2008). (published)
Suginta W., Pantoom S. and Prinz H. Substrate binding modes and anomer selectivity of chitinase A from Vibrio harveyi. Journal of Chemical Biology. 2, 191-202 (2009). (published)
Pantoom S., Vetter I. R., Prinz H. and SugintaW. Potent family-18 chitinase inhibitors: X-ray structures, affinities and binding mechanisms (2010). (Submitted to The Journal of Biological Chemistry journal).
