Biophysicist James Fraser, PhD, has been named a 2014 Searle Scholar. His laboratory will be awarded $300,000 in funding over the next three years to support his research into more accurately and precisely describing the ways that protein molecules change shape to carry out the functions of life in our bodies.
I am a biophysicist. My research is focused on discovering the macromolecular structure and dynamics of proteins—defining conformational states essential for function and understanding transitions between these states.
My research seeks to invent approaches to engineer new biological functions at multiple scales, ranging from atomic details to macromolecular machines to cellular processes. By building new functions through a combination of computational design and experimental engineering, I also hope to learn how molecular design principles shape systems-level properties and, ultimately, organismal fitness.
Research in my lab focuses on atomic-level mechanisms of protein regulation, protein-ligand interactions, and computer-aided drug design. My approach is to employ physics-based energy models for predictive protein modeling. Projects in my lab combine algorithm development and biological applications.
I am interested in the structure, function, and evolution of proteins and their assemblies. As Associate Dean of Research, I advise the dean and School leaders on research issues and opportunities and represent the School to campus research decision makers and on research-related campus committees.
The 2nd Annual Bay Area Biotechnology Symposium, presented by the UCSF School of Pharmacy’s Industry Outreach Program in coordination with the UCSF Postdoctoral Scholars Association at Mission Bay in late May 2011, fully lived up to its billing: “Pharmaceuticals of the Future: Case Histories and Challenges.”
Through study results of a particular enzyme of unknown function, called Tm0936, that is found in a bacterium that lives in thermal vents in the Mediterranean Ocean, UCSF School of Pharmacy faculty member Brian Shoichet, PhD and colleagues are shedding light on how to ultimately better predict the actions of enzymes involved in the discovery and development of drugs.
School of Pharmacy faculty member and computational biologist Andrej Sali, PhD, and international colleagues have developed new techniques to reveal the architecture of large protein complexes within cells. Their ultimate goal is to see how these complexes interact in real time—however fleeting the encounters.
A research paper authored by UCSF School of Pharmacy faculty member Brian Shoichet, PhD, and colleagues appeared in the September 2007 list of The Nature Top Ten. The listing includes articles most frequently downloaded from the Nature website the preceding month.
