RUI: A Dynamical Study of Chemical and Biochemical Mechanisms

Williams College, Williamstown MA

Investigators

Abstract

Enrique Peacock-Lopez of Williams College is supported by the Theoretical and Computational Chemistry Program to carry out research in the area of chemical and biochemical reactions in solutions and on surfaces using analytical methods and simulations. The effort will expand proposed minimal models and consider several systems that are relevant to nonlinear chemical kinetics and biochemical mechanisms in cell and human physiology. Specifically, cell surface ligand-receptor interactions and lateral diffusion on phospholipid bilayers will be studied. As well, cascade mechanisms responding to ligand-receptor binding and specific biochemical mechanisms related to biochemical response will be explored. Applications will enable insights to be gained into biochemical systems including self-replicating structures and their implication on triple-stranded DNA, prion kinetics, pulsitile secretion, regulation of pituitary hormones, and glucose metabolism in liver cells. Temporal and spatial pattern formation in biological systems is an interesting and challenging problem in theoretical biophysical chemistry. In this project, the molecular basis of different physiological mechanisms will be explored, with the aim of understanding the response to initial macromolecule-surface protein "signals" at the molecular level. Undergraduate participation is an integral part of this effort, with students expected to gain valuable research experience and benefit from complementary interactions with experimentalists.