Xueqing Zou

Xueqing Zou

Home Department: Physics

Office Address: 3159 Beckman

Office Phone: 217-244-7403

Email Address:xqzou@ks.uiuc.edu

Education

  • Ph.D. in Physics from Peking University (2004 - 2009)
  • Visiting student in Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group, UIUC, (2007 - 2008)
  • B.S. in Computer Science from Beijing Institute of Petro-chemical Technology (1999 - 2003)

Research Interests:

betahairpin

  • Biological flow sensor
    • The biological function of proteins is determined by their structures. The structure-function relationship is particularly interesting in case where proteins act as sensors of environmental properties like flow, temperature, or ion concentration. As an example, the beta-switch part of blood platelet receptor glycoprotein Ib (GPIb) was recently found that it can undergo a loop to beta-hairpin transition, which can enhence The binding of the blood clotting von Willebrand factor (vWF) to the GPIb. Our research investigate the mechanism underlying the flow-induced conformational transition. More information can be found at our molecular flow sensor website.

    mDNA

  • Detecting methylation patten by synthetic nanopore
    • Methylation of cytosine in DNA is one of the most important phenomena in epigenetics. Without changing the sequence of DNA, methylation of DNA can affect a lot of biological process, such as gene regulation, gene expression, X-chromosome inactive, and cellular differentiation. Here we conduct simulations to understand how methylation influence the biological function of DNA. More information of methylated DNA research can be found at our methylated DNA website.

    Publications

    Publications Database

    Recognition of methylated DNA through methyl-CpG binding domain proteins. Xueqing Zou, Wen Ma, Ilia Solov'yov, Christophe Chipot, and Klaus Schulten Nucleic Acids Research, 2012. In press.

    Publications Database

    Computational investigation of DNA detection using graphene nanopores. Chaitanya Sathe*, Xueqing Zou*, Jean-Pierre Leburton, and Klaus Schulten. ACS Nano, 2011. In press.

    Publications Database

    Cytosine methylation alters DNA mechanical properties. Philip M.D. Severin*, Xueqing Zou*, Hermann E. Gaub, and Klaus Schulten. Nucleic Acids Research, 49:8740-8751, 2011

    Publications Database

    Flow-induced b-hairpin folding of the glycoprotein Iba b-switch. Xueqing Zou, Yanxin Liu, Zhongzhou Chen, Gloria Ines Cárdenas-Jirón, and Klaus Schulten. Biophysical Journal, 99:1182-1191, 2010.

    Publications Database

    Nanoelectromechanics of methylated DNA in a synthetic nanopore. Utkur M. Mirsaidov, Winston Timp, Xueqing Zou, Valentin Dimitrov, Klaus Schulten, Andrew P. Feinberg, and Greg Timp. Biophysical Journal, 96:L32-L34, 2009.

    * Equal contribution authors

    Lectures and Poster Presentations:

    (Talk) Single-molecule studies on mechanical properties of DNA. Nanohour seminar, 2011. Beckman Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

    (Poster) Flow-induced beta-hairpin folding of the glycoprotein Ib-alpha beta-switch. Biophysical Society 55th Annual Meeting, 2011. Baltimore, Maryland.

    (Talk) Molecular dynamics simulation of flow-induced beta-hairpin formation for the beta-switch of glycoprotein Ib. Xueqing Zou Zhongzhou Chen, Gloria Cardenas-Jiron, Klaus Schulten. Sino-German Workshop on shear as Regulatory Driving Force in the Extra-cellular Space, 2009. Beijing, China.

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