Research at a Glance:
From Molecules to Organisms
Understanding life from its molecular foundation to the cellular, organ, and organism levels complements the practice of medicine. In answering the most basic questions about organisms, biomedical researchers import methods and concepts from the physical sciences that encompass novel experiments and mathematical descriptions. Likewise, motivated by biomedically relevant problems and collaborating closely with experimental laboratories, Klaus Schulten and his coworkers exploit advances in physical theory and computing to model organisms across many levels of organization, from molecules to cells to networks. During the past decade, they have pioneered the modelling of very large biomolecular structures and more recently have embarked on an innovative computational tool, interactive molecular dynamics.
The research of the Schulten group has been driven by problems in biomedicine, such as: understanding neural development and processing as described in a textbook (Computational Neurobiology) co-authored with two of Schulten's students [1] and in a paper written jointly with G. Blasdel of Harvard Medical School comparing models of neural maps (Brain Map) in the visual cortex with observations [2]; solving the mechanisms of key bioenergetic proteins like the photosynthetic reaction center [3], Bacteriorhodopsin [4], Cytochrome c Oxydase [5], Light Harvesting Complexes [10, 11]; and unravelling the molecular basis of the body's lipid metabolism (Lipoprotein) [12] and of the mechanical properties of cells (Titin) [13].