Dr. Nathan Baker
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Center for Computational Biology
Washington University
St. Louis, MO

Monday, January 30, 2006
3:00 pm (CT)
3269 Beckman Institute

Abstract

Biological phenomena occur over a wide range of length and time scales. However, current computational methods are typically constrained to sample rather narrow windows of these scales. This constraint can lead to significant disparities between experimental and computational observations. Our goal is to develop theories, algorithms, and software which combine the strengths of different computational methods to study biological phenomena in a multiscale fashion. In particular, I will present our work on two aspects of this research: (1) the critical investigation of current implicit solvent models and suggestions for improvement and (2) the influence of salicylate binding on membrane electromechanical coupling.