B.A. 1959 Columbia College
B.S. 1960 Chemical Engineering, Columbia University School of Engineering
Ph.D. 1969 Physics, Dartmouth College
Postdoc. 1969-1971 Department of Physiology, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine 

Computational studies of biological transport: understanding and engineering life at the interface

Two major lines of effort in computational biochemistry are: 1) the use of simulations to understand the physical chemical bases of biomolecular function, and 2) bioinformatics, the use of advanced information technology to extract meaning from databases containing information on sequence, structure, and function. In our laboratory we use both bioinformatics and simulation to understand biological transport.

In one line of work, we are doing simulations of patches of lipid bilayer membranes. The initial phase of this work has involved establishing the basic technology for molecular dynamics simulations of membranes, such as boundary conditions, force fields, and statistical methods for conformational sampling. More recently we have embarked on studies of heterogenous membranes and the development of multiscale methods to.

In a second line of work, we are studying permeation in ion channels. We do sequence- and physics-based structural modeling, simulation studies of permeation, and studies on sequence-function relationships.

Finally, we are working with engineers and materials scientists to transform our understanding into the design of devices that utilize the technology of self-assembly of biological or biomimetic transporters on nanoporous silicon.