Biophysics - Participating Faculty
Mary Ann Allen (Biofrontiers)Research to understand Global Regulation of Gene Expression through use of computational and molecular tools that focus on the TF binding sites, enhancer RNAs, nascent transcription, and gene expression to crack the genome's code
Robert T. Batey(dzٰ)X-ray crystallographic studies of the structures and mechanisms of ribonucleoprotein enzymes and switches, including those involved in signal recognition during membrane targetting, in biogenesis of ribosomes, and in RNA regulation
R. Kōnane Bay (Chemical and Biological Engineering) Mechanics of difficult to handle materials, polymers, fabrication of engineered living materials, microbial biofilms
(dzٰ)Quantitative microscopy, cell biology, biophysical modeling, and bioengineering approaches to uncover mechanisms of immune cell motility and electric field-directed cell migration; development of biomedical tools for regenerative medicine, immunoengineering, and cellular guidance.
Meredith Betterton(Physics)Mathematical modeling and computational analysis of biophysical problems, including the unwinding of DNA by helicases, and the physical properties of DNA tethers used in single molecule studies
Justin Brumbaugh(Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology)Seeks to understand the mechanisms that control cell identity and differentiation during early development. His lab utilizes cellular reprogramming to understand epigenetic and post-transcriptional mechanisms that define a cell's identity. His lab also explores the role of chromatin modifications and RNA processing in development
Thomas R. Cech(Biochemistry and HHMI)Integrating biophysics, cryo-electron microscopy, single-molecule live-cell imaging, and A.I. to interrogate the biological function of nucleic acid-protein complexes
(Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology and HHMI Hanna Gray Fellow)How dynamic mechanisms within neurons drive the remarkable functions of the brain. Identifying these fundamental mechanisms is critical to understanding neurodevelopment, neurophysiology, diseases of the nervous system, and therapeutics for neuropathology
(Biochemistry)Biophysical Chemistry; single molecule studies of reconstituted membrane-bound signaling proteins and pathways; novel uses of fluorescence methods and site-directed sulfhydryl chemistry to probe protein structure, dynamics and mechanism; macrophage chemotaxis and phagocytosis pathways; autophagy pathway; PI-3-Kinases and lipid signaling; live cell tests of in vitro mechanistic models
Virginia (Ginger) Ferguson (Mechanical Engineering) Studies problems deeply rooted in the mechanical behavior of materials with applications that extend from understanding causes of functional tissue failure, developing new solutions fortissue regeneration, novel biomaterials, and studying emerging and complex materials (e.g.,stereolithography, or SLA, 3D printed polymers for tissue regeneration)
Nuris M. Figueroa(Physics)Bacterial motility in anisotropic media
(Chemical & Biological Engineering)Analysis of the biophysical relationships and logic structures that allow biocatalytic networks to control complex cellular behaviors (e.g., metabolism, signal processing, and adaptation); synthetic biology for protein and metabolic engineering; drug discovery
James A. Goodrich(Biochemistry)Molecular mechanisms and kinetics of human mRNA transcription, transcriptional regulation, reconstitution and kinetic characterization of transcriptional complexes, FRET analysis of transcriptional complex structure and dynamics
Laurel E. Hind(Chemical & Biological Engineering) Engineered systems to study the innate immune response to infection
Loren E. Hough(Physics) Experimental biophysics of intrinsically disordered protein domains including the C-terminal tail of tubulin and proteins involved in the nuclear pore complex
(Biochemistry)Cryo-EM structural and functional studies of RNA- and Chromatin-mediated regulation of gene silencing enzymes
Leslie A. Leinwand(Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology)Biophysical studies of motor protein performance; formation, function and dysfunction of skeletal and cardiac muscle; components of the sarcomere including myosin heavy chain and troponin T; mutations that cause heart disease
(Biochemistry and HHMI)Structural biology of the chromatin and its associated machinery; cryo-EM analysis of genome organization in non-eukaryotic organisms; development of PARP inhibitors with novel properties
(Chemistry) Theoretical condensed phase dynamics, including developing and applying methods to: elucidate optical signals from biological chromophores revealing how chemical environments can tune energy and charge transfer pathways; and accurately and efficiently predict long-time configurational dynamics of large biomolecules
Corey P. Neu(Mechanical Engineering)Multiscale biomechanics and imaging, cell and nuclear mechanobiology
Amy E. Palmer(dzٰ)Chemical biology, biosensor design, imaging of signal transduction pathways; development of novel FRET sensors and reporters; protein and RNA engineering; RNA imaging; fluorescence microscopy; spectroscopic and biophysical methods
Roy R. Parker (Biochemistry and HHMI) - Biophysical and biochemical studies of how cells regulate the translation and degradation of mRNAs, using yeast as a model system
(Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology, JILA)Single molecule analysis of biological motors using optical tweezers and single molecule spectroscopy, motor proteins involved in DNA unwinding, transcription and translation, state-of-the-art laser spectroscopy
(Chemical & Biological Engineering)Pressure effects on protein folding and unfolding; protein stability; protein-solvent interactions; processing and formulation of protein-based pharmaceutical products; spectroscopies including EPR, FTIR, circular dichroism, light scattering, and surface plasmon resonance
Daniel K. Schwartz (Chemical and Biological Engineering)Interfacial phenomena, biomolecules at interfaces, surface modification via molecular self-assembly, single-molecule microscopy methods, nanoscale surface structures
C. Wyatt Shields IV(Chemical and Biological Engineering)Drug Delivery, Biosensing,Active Matter,Soft Materials, Colloid and Interface Science, Microfluidics
Michael R. Shirts (Chemical and Biological Engineering) Design and characterize new materials at the nanoscale using theory and computation
Marcelo C.Sousa(dzٰ)Mechanisms of membrane modification leading to antibiotic resistance in Gram-negative bacteria. Mechanisms of membrane protein folding/insertion and protein transport across membranes. Single molecule imaging and force spectroscopy.
(Chemical and Biological Engineering) Molecular simulation, adaptive immune response and the in silico design of optimal immunization protocols
(Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology)Structural biophysics of chemical synapses using cryoEM and cryoET; dynamic 3D molecular architecture of macromolecular signaling complexes and synaptic vesicles; multi-scale imaging of intact neural tissues in health and neurodegenerative disease
(Chemisty) Developing automation- and AI-driven synthetic chemistry technologies to: accelerate access to organic molecules with interesting biological properties, understand the biological action of complex natural products, and design enzyme-like supramolecular catalysts
Dylan J. Taatjes(dzٰ)Mechanistic studies of human RNA polymerase II transcription
(Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology and HHMI)Organelle biogenesis; Use of electron microscopy, fluorescence and other tools to learn how membrane proteins and their partners define the shapes of cellular membranes
(Chemisty) Chemical biology and biophysical approaches to understand molecular mechanisms of neurodegeneration, chemical synthesis, chemical probes and rational drug design
Timothy A. Whitehead(Chemical and Biological Engineering)Protein engineering, protein design, biomolecular recognition, renewable energy production, antibody and antibody mimics, antigen design, synthetic biology, biochemical engineering
Aaron T. Whiteley(dzٰ)Innate immune signaling and defense against pathogens, inbacteria and humans
Alexandra M. Whiteley(dzٰ) Regulation of protein degradation by UBQLNs and their role in cellular and organismal health
Deborah S. Wuttke(dzٰ)High-resolution, heteronuclear, multi-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance studies of biomolecules and their complexes; use of NMR and biochemical methods to probe the relationship between three-dimensional structure and function in solution