This proposal aims to strengthen the biophysics core at the University of Missouri comprised of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, the Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center, and the Biochemistry Department by hiring an experimental biophysicist. The newly recruited faculty will join the faculty of the Department of Physics and bring a strong quantitative capability to the existing interdisciplinary team effort. This person will bring a new line of research in experimental membrane physics (e.g., dynamics/conformational changes, functions, or structures), thus complementing the theoretical and computational capabilities already in place in the Department. At the same time the new faculty member will serve as a bridge to the high quality programs at Dalton and Biochemistry. The College of Arts and Science and the Physics Department at the University of Missouri have made a strong commitment to aggressively build an internationally recognized program in biological physics. To aid this project, the University of Missouri is committing funds to support the new faculty member with partial salary for the two years of this project, and full salary henceforth, plus start-up funds to complement this proposal request. An open search for the new faculty member will be conducted with an expected start in Fall/2009.
As our knowledge of life sciences in general, and therapeutic drug function in particular, evolves towards an understanding at the nanoscale (atomic and molecular level), an integrated approach is fundamental. A biophysicist, as part of an interdisciplinary team, brings a new perspective focusing on the fundamental and quantitative aspects of a problem, which can lead to breakthroughs from which novel methods and techniques can be developed.
| Jih, Kang-Yang; Li, Min; Hwang, Tzyh-Chang et al. (2011) The most common cystic fibrosis-associated mutation destabilizes the dimeric state of the nucleotide-binding domains of CFTR. J Physiol 589:2719-31 |
