Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Interdisciplinary Informatics for FY 2003

Grabe Michael, San Francisco CA

Investigators

Abstract

Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Interdisciplinary Informatics are sponsored jointly by the Directorates for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) and Biological Sciences (BIO) to encourage research and training that cross the traditional disciplinary boundaries between them. These fellowships provide opportunities for interdisciplinary research and educational activities in biology and informatics to a wide range of recent doctoral recipients (biologists, chemists, physicists, mathematicians, statisticians, computer scientists, and others). It is expected that the Fellows trained through these fellowships will play an important role in training the future workforce. Postdoctoral research and training in informatics will permit junior scientists trained in biology, mathematical, chemical, and physical sciences to play key roles in developing new quantitative tools and methods that will advance informatics in biology and other fields. The research and training plan is entitled "Electromechanical models of voltage-activation." Voltage-gated ion channels are essential for the generation of action potentials that trigger neurosecretion and muscle contraction. Membrane depolarization causes rearrangements of a voltage-sensing domain required for conduction. This project will construct molecular models using electrostatic calculations in order to understand these motions in potassium channels.