Our group develops and applies cutting-edge techniques from fluorescence spectroscopy, fluorescence microscopy and biological imaging to studying what is life's most important class of molecules: proteins. Proteins are life's workhorse, and they have a hand in doing just about anything significant that happens in living organisms. Proteins are responsible for the replication of DNA (and the replication of cells); they are the engines of metabolic pathways providing organisms with energy; they are the building blocks of molecular motors that propel cells through space; there is even a class of proteins called "enzymes" that are absolutely vital for catalyzing other biochemical reactions necessary for life. One of today's outstanding challenges is for scientists to better understand how these proteins go about their business.
For those of us here, our backgrounds are varied, having been drawn from numerous other disciplines outside of straight chemistry or biology. We have physicists, mathematicians, biochemists, computer scientists on hand and we all struggle here to sort out the daily challenges of trying to make sense of the mysterious microscopic world. Though many of us have the traits of rigorous experimentalists, our work often poses challenging theoretical problems as well.
For more information on our research, contact us or browse through our website!