Biological Physics

The department is involved in a variety of biological and soft matter research areas, using a variety of techniques.

  • Research Areas

    Nucleic Acid/Protein Dynamics and Interactions

    RNA and Protein Folding Kinetics

    Membrane Lipid-Protein and Lipid-Lipid Interactions

    Structural Studies of Membranes and Membrane Proteins

    Membrane Ion Transport and Voltage Sensing

    Electrostatic Interactions at Soft Interfaces

  • Techniques

    X-ray and Neutron Scattering

    Laser Temperature-Jump

    Single Molecular FRET

    Fluctuation Correlation Spectroscopy

    Microscopy and Calorimetry

    Large-Scale Computer Simulations

Time-resolved measurement of the conformational dynamics of protein-DNA complexes are used to unveil the energetics underlying ‘site-specific’ recognition of DNA binding sites by gene regulatory and DNA repair proteins. Folding pathways of minimal structural motifs of RNA are studied to elucidate the physical rules that govern their stability and dynamics.

Neutron and X-ray scattering are used to probe biomembrane processes, including peripheral membrane protein binding to lipids and the role of cholesterol in the permeability, rigidity and phase behavior of biomembranes.

X-ray surface scattering investigations of fundamental electrostatic interactions at soft interfaces including ion distributions, amphiphile ordering, ion transport, and nanoparticle interactions at electrified liquid-liquid interfaces.

High-performance computing resources at UIC’s High Performance Computing Cluster and at National Labs are used to study ion transport, voltage sensing and signal transduction in membrane proteins using all-atom molecular dynamics simulations. New methodologies for simulations of membrane proteins are in development.

Faculty Working in Biological Physics Heading link