Biological Physics

Dr. Aihua Xie leads an active research group that studies the fundamental principles of proteins. Proteins by nature are nanoparticles, with well designed biological functions. Proteins perform an enormous range of roles in cells such as manufacturers, communicators, regulators, and commanders that keep cells alive, organized, healthy, and active. Her group employs a broad range of experimental, computational, and biochemical techniques for their research, encompassing tunable nanosecond lasers, time-resolved nanosecond and microsecond Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy, microlithographically fabricated microflow device, infrared microscopic spectroscopy, and density function based quantum calculations of complex biomolecules.

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Dr. Donghua Zhou's research focuses on proteins important to health. We use both solution and solid state NMR experimental techniques to study the structure and dynamics of soluble, aggregated and membrane proteins. Atomic resolution three-dimensional structures of proteins are critical to understand their biological functions and molecular mechanisms of diseases. We also use supercomputer based molecular docking and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation methods to study interactions of potential drug candidates with target proteins, providing important insights on how to redesign molecules for more potent drugs with less side effects.