Biological Physics
Overview Heading link
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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
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Techniques
X-ray and Neutron Scattering
Laser Temperature-Jump
Single Molecular FRET
Fluctuation Correlation Spectroscopy
Microscopy and Calorimetry
Large-Scale Computer Simulations
Additional Information Heading link
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Protein-DNA Interactions and RNA Folding
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.
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Proteins and Cholesterol in Membranes
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.
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Electrostatic Interactions at Soft Interfaces
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.
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Computational
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.