Rehana Afrin

Dr. Rehana Afrin


Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

10Years (2017-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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1 January 2018 in Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology
Verified
Journal Article
Closed access
AIAtsushi Ikai
Atsushi Ikai
RARehana Afrin
Rehana Afrin
MSMasakazu Saito
Masakazu Saito
TNTakahiro Nakayama
Takahiro Nakayama

Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
RARehana Afrin
Rehana Afrin
NGNarangerel Ganbaatar
Narangerel Ganbaatar
MAMasashi Aono
Masashi Aono
HCH. James Cleaves
H. James Cleaves
TYTaka-aki Yano
Taka-aki Yano
MHMasahiko Hara
Masahiko Hara
The interaction strength of progressively longer oligomers of glycine, (Gly), di-Gly, tri-Gly, and penta-Gly, with a natural pyrite surface was directly measured using the force mode of an atomic force microscope (AFM). In recent years, selective activation of abiotically formed amino acids on mineral surfaces, especially that of pyrite, has been proposed as an important step in many origins of life scenarios. To investigate such notions, we used AFM-based force measurements to probe possible non-covalent interactions between pyrite and amino acids, starting from the simplest amino acid, Gly. Although Gly itself interacted with the pyrite surface only weakly, progressively larger unbinding forces and binding frequencies were obtained using oligomers from di-Gly to penta-Gly. In addition to an expected increase of the configurational entropy and size-dependent van der Waals force, the increasing number of polar peptide bonds, among others, may be responsible for this observation. The effect of chain length was also investigated by performing similar experiments using l-lysine vs. poly-l-lysine (PLL), and l-glutamic acid vs. poly-l-glutamic acid. The results suggest that longer oligomers/polymers of amino acids can be preferentially adsorbed on pyrite surfaces.

1 October 2017 in Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology and Medicine
Verified
Journal Article
Closed access
RARehana Afrin
Rehana Afrin
MSMasakazu Saito
Masakazu Saito
TNTakahiro Nakayama
Takahiro Nakayama
AIAtsushi Ikai
Atsushi Ikai