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Molecular Biology Series: Theory and Computation in DNA Biophysics and Protein Assembly

Monday, April 4, 2PM – 3PM
ACE 6.304

Andrew Spakowitz

Our research lab is engaged in a range of projects that create fundamental insight into key biological problems and into the physical behavior of complex materials. Our lab's three main research themes are DNA Biophysics, Protein Self Assembly, and Charge Transport in Conjugated Polymers. These broad research areas offer complementary perspectives on physical processes, and we leverage this complementarity throughout our research. A common thread among the problems that we address is the need to capture physical phenomena over many length and time scales, and we utilize a range of analytical and computational techniques to achieve this goal. In this talk, I will discuss several projects involving DNA biophysics and protein assembly. In the area of DNA biophysics, I will discuss our theoretical research on the dynamic reorganization of chromosomal DNA inside live E. coli cells, the target-site search process of gene regulatory proteins, and the physical packaging of the eukaryotic genome into a dense chromatin fiber. In the area of protein assembly, I will present our theoretical model for the self-assembly of clathrin proteins into lattices on an undulating cell membrane.

Prior to joining the Stanford School of Engineering in 2006, Prof. Spakowitz was a postdoctoral scholar in Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. He completed his PhD and MS studies in Chemical Engineering at Caltech, and his BS degree in Chemical Engineering at University of Wisconsin. He uses a combination of analytical theory and computational techniques to understand the underlying physical phenomena in biological processes and complex fluids. Research projects within his lab fall within three broads themes: DNA biophysics, charge transport in conjugated polymers, and protein self assembly. Recent recognitions include the NSF CAREER Award.

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