Dynamic Light Scattering of Bovine Insulin - Bilal Mahmood
Hometown: Clifton Park, New York
Class Year: 2008
Major: Mathematics and Physics
Research Advisor: Professor Jay Newman
Project Description:
I used the technique of Dynamic Light Scattering to study fibril formation in bovine insulin. I took data on the intensity of laser light scattered from solutions containing insulin. Analyzing this data gave me information on the random motion of particles, in my case insulin, in the solution. From this, one can extract the size of the particles. Thus, I looked at the aggregation of insulin as a function of time. I saw insulin aggregate in a couple distinct steps before forming a gel-like matrix. Furthermore, the addition of salt increased the pace of insulin aggregation.