John A. TainerProfessor

We focus on structural biology and design projects that concern fundamental questions of molecular and cellular biology relevant to human disease. A focal point for Tainer lab research efforts is the characterization of keystone complexes, conformational changes, and interfaces for macromolecular assemblies and machines. These protein complexes relate to reactive oxygen control, genome integrity, cell proliferation, response to pathogenesis, and cell death. The goal of these ongoing characterizations is to provide a interpretation of the human health implications from the human genome polymorphisms. These structural results thus contribute to new molecular level understandings as well as to knowledge-based treatments for degenerative diseases, infectious disease, and cancer. Primarily experimental techniques include protein crystallography, electron microscopy, biochemistry, computation analyses, mutagenesis, and protein expression. Computational efforts include method developments and applications, in the areas of structural analysis, protein and drug design, and molecular computer graphics.