Department of Structural and Chemical Biology
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The Department houses internationally respected research programs focusing on the molecular electrophysiology of cell excitability and cardiology, and on experimental and computational investigations of the structure, function and regulation of macromolecules in transcription and translation, signal transduction, stem cell development, cancer and aging. The research by the Departmental faculty is directed at the understanding of the molecular basis of human biology and disease, with research strengths in molecular and cell biology and biophysics, structural biology, computational biology, and target structure-based small molecule design. Major experimental approaches include biochemistry and biophysics of proteins/nucleic acids/membranes, chemical biology of small molecules, electrophysiology, molecular biology, cryo-electron microscopy, NMR spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography, computational modeling and simulation. Search Faculty Research InterestsDepartmental FacilitiesFaculty Research Interests and LaboratoriesAneel Aggarwal, Professor; Ph.D., Protein-nucleic acid interactions in gene transcription and translation, and DNA repair with X-ray crystallography and other biophysical methods. Cristina Alberini, Asssitant Professor; Ph.D., Learning and memory responses in vivo (behavior); Analysis of patterns of gene expression; temporally and anatomically restricted gene manipulation; memory impairment. Carter Bancroft, Professor; Ph.D., 1966. Hormonal and developmental regulation of gene expression; isolation of clinically relevant prostate tumor markers; DNA-based computation and cryptography. Vladimir Brezina, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., 1988. Cellular neurophysiology and biophysics of membrane ion channels. Elizabeth Cropper, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., 1985. Biochemical and electrophysiological studies of peptide cotransmission in a simple invertebrate preparation. Josef Eisinger, Professor Emeritus; Ph.D., 1951. Fluorescence spectroscopy and energy transfer in biological molecules; dynamic structure of membranes; quantitative fluorescence microscopy of living cells. Marta Filizola, Asssitant Professor; Ph.D., Structure-function correlation in molecular recognition and signal transduction through the development and application of computational methods. Ehud Kaplan, Professor; Ph.D., (also Professor of Ophthalmology); Dynamics of the LGN and visual cortex. Diomedes E. Logothetis, Professor and Interim Vice Chair; Ph.D., 1987. Molecular basis of ion channel function; structure-function relationships and modulation of ion channel activity using electrophysiology , single-molecule biophysics , and computational methods. Marianna Max, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Sensory Transduction and Regulation of Melatonin Synthesis and Circadian Rhythmicity. Robert F. Margolskee, Professor; M.D., Ph.D., 1983. Molecular mechanisms of taste transduction; purification, molecular cloning and in vitro expression of receptors, channels and G-proteins of vertebrate taste cells; transgenic modification and gene knockout of taste cell functions. Mihaly Mezei, Associate Professor; Ph.D., 1972. Developing computational techniques for structural and molecular modeling analysis of biological macromolecular complexes in aqueous environment, and for small molecule design. Roman Osman, Professor (also Professor of Pharmacology); Ph.D., 1974. Molecular mechanisms of enzymatic DNA repair, receptor/ligand interactions, gene transcription and translation, as well as structure-based small-molecule design using free energy simulations and quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical methods . Roberto Sánchez, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., 2000. Bioinformatics. Structural bioinformatics, computational structural biology; protein structure prediction; structure-based prediction of function; biological databases; and small-molecule design. Iban Ubarretxena-Belandia, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Structural and functional characterization of eukaryotic and prokaryotic membrane protein complexes involved in regulated intra-membrane proteolysis in cell development and the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease using combined high-resolution cryo-electron microscopy, X-ray crystallography and NMR spectroscopy methods. Harel Weinstein, Professor (also Professor of Pharmacology); D.Sc., 1971. Molecular biophysics; development and application of theoretical quantum chemical and thermodynamical methods for study of molecular mechanisms and structure function relations of biological macromolecules, including receptors, enzymes, calcium-binding proteins, and protein-DNA interactions; receptor theory and its applications to mechanisms of action of drugs and xenobiotics, including hallucinogens, neurotransmitters, and environmental toxicants. Klaudiusz Weiss, Professor; Ph.D., 1973. Neural basis of behavioral plasticity, with special emphasis on the electrophysiological, biochemical, and molecular analysis of synaptic modulation. Ming-Ming Zhou, Professor and Interim Chair; Ph.D., 1993. Structural and molecular mechanisms of chromatin-based gene transcription or silencing in human biology and diseases of HIV/AIDS, cancer, leukemia and Alzheimer's disease; structure-based small molecule design with heteronuclear NMR structural and chemical biology methods. |