Education

Degree	Institution	Major
BA	Boston University	Chemistry
MA	Harvard University	Physical Chemistry
PhD	Harvard University	Physical Chemistry

Awards

Name of Award/Honor	Awarding Organization
Election to Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering (CASE)	Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering
Henry C. Allen Lecture	Clark University, Worcester, MA
Council Representative 2001-2003	Gordon Research Conferences
Merck Award, Department of Chemistry	Boston University
Society of Fellows and Scholars 1975-1976	Boston University
Harold C. Case Scholar 1975-1978	Boston University
Phi Beta Kappa, Epsilon of Massachusetts	Boston University

Name & Description	Category	Role	Type	Scope	Start Year	End Year
Journal of Biomolecuar NMR	Professional/Scientific Journal	Guest Editor	External	National	2012	2013
Dean’s Council	Education Committee	Representative	UConn Health	University	2012	2013
Gordon Research Conference on Computational Aspects of Biomolecular NMR, Barga, Italy	Other	Session Chair	External	International	2011	2011
Search Committee (Chair, Department of Cell Biology)	Advisory Committee	Member	UConn Health	University	2010	2010
NMR and Cancer, Farmington, CT	Other	Organizer	External	Local	2010	2010
Uconn Health Center Ad Hoc Appeals Committee	Advisory Committee	Member	UConn Health	University	2010	2010
NIH SEP Study Section, P41	Study Section	Member	External	National	2009
Department of Molecular, Microbial, & Structural Biology Faculty Search Committee	Advisory Committee	Member	UConn Health	University	2009	2010
UCHC Research Council	Advisory Committee	Member	UConn Health	University	2009
Faculty/Staff Philanthropy Committee	Advisory Committee	Member	UConn Health	University	2009
UConn Partnership for Excellence in Structural Biology	Education Committee	Director	UConn Health	University	2009	2012
Workshop on Sparse Data Collection and Processing, Asilomar, CA	Other	Organizer	External	National	2008	2008
NMR Bootcamp, Joint workshop with Canadian National NMR Facility	Other	Organizer	External	International	2008	2008
NMRDP International Summit	Other	Organizer	External	International	2008	2008
Molecular, Microbial, & Structural Biology Faculty Search Committee	Advisory Committee	Chair	UConn Health	University	2008	2008
Search Committee (Assistant Vice President of IT– Research Computing)	Advisory Committee	Member	UConn Health	University	2008
UConn Partnership for Excellence in Structural Biology	Professional/Scientific Organization	Director	External	University	2007
North Eastern Structure Symposium: Protein – Nucleic Acid Interactions, Storrs, CT	Other	Co-Chair	External	Regional	2007	2007
Biophysical Core Facility, Department of Molecular, Microbial, & Structural Biology	Advisory Committee	Director	UConn Health	University	2007
UConn Partnership for Excellence in Structural Biology	Professional/Scientific Organization	Associate Director	External	University	2006	2009
Study Section Computational Biophysics (ZRG1)	Study Section	Ad Hoc Member	External	National	2006
Advances in Biomolecular NMR Spectroscopy, Boston, MA	Professional/Scientific Organization	Co-Chair	External	Local	2005
NIH Macromolecular Structure and Function Study Section	Study Section	Ad Hoc Member	External	National	2005
Advances in Biomolecular NMR Spectroscopy, Boston, MA	Other	Co-Chair	External	National	2005	2005
Department of Molecular, Microbial, & Structural Biology, Symposium on Understanding Proteins: A Celebration of Contributions by Zheng-yu Peng	Other	Organizer	UConn Health	University	2005	2005
Molecular, Microbial, & Structural Biology Seminar	Other	Coordinator	UConn Health	University	2005	2006
Molecular, Microbial, & Structural Biology Faculty Search Committee	Advisory Committee	Member	UConn Health	University	2005	2006
New England Structural Symposium: NMR Perspectives on Biological Problems, Storrs, CT	Other	Co-Chair	External	Regional	2004	2004
UConn Health Center, Graduate Admissions Committee	Advisory Committee	Member	UConn Health	State	2004
University of Connecticut, Executive Committee, Partnership for Excellence in Structural Biology	Education Committee	Member	UConn Health	University	2004
Gregory P. Mullen NMR Structural Biology Facility, Department of Molecular, Microbial, & Structural Biology	Advisory Committee	Director	UConn Health	University	2004
NIH Special Study Section, SBIR	Study Section	Chair	External	National	2002
Council Representative, Gordon Research Conferences	Professional/Scientific Organization	Member	External	National	2001	2003
Advisory Board, BioMagResBank	Advisory Committee	Chair	External	Local	2000	2004
NIH Study Section Molecular and Cellular Biophysics (BBCA)	Study Section	Ad Hoc Member	External	National	2000	2000
Gordon Research Conference on Computational Aspects of Biomolecular NMR, Barga, Italy	Other	Chair	External	International	1999	1999
NIH Study Section Molecular and Cellular Biophysics	Study Section	Ad Hoc Member	External	National	1996	1996
Biohazard Safety Committee	Advisory Committee	Member	External	University	1996	2000
Advisory Board, Biological Magnetic Resonance Data Bank (BioMagResBank), Madison, Wisconsin	Advisory Committee	Member	External	State	1994	2004
NIH Special Study Section, Research Resource	Study Section	Member	External	National	1994	1994
NIH Study Section Molecular and Cellular Biophysics (BBCA)	Study Section	Ad Hoc Member	External	National	1993	1993
NIH Special Study Section, Program Project	Study Section	Member	External	National	1992	1992
NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Computational Aspects of the Study of Biological Macromolecules by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, Barga, Italy	Professional/Scientific Organization	Director	External	International	1990
NIH Special Study Section, Shared Instrumentation	Study Section	Member	External	National	1990	1990
NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Computational Aspects of the Study of Biological Macromolecules by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, Barga, Italy	Other	Director	External	International	1990	1990
Rowland Institute, Library Committee	Advisory Committee	Member	External	University	1989	2002
Rowland Institute, Seminar Coordinator	Advisory Committee	Coordinator	External	University	1985	2002
Boston University, President’s Host (Student Representatives)	Education Committee	President’s Host	External	University	1975	1976
American Chemical Society	Professional/Scientific Organization	Member	External	National
Protein Society	Professional/Scientific Organization	Member	External	National
Journal of Molecular Biology	Professional/Scientific Journal	Reviewer	External	National
Journal of Magnetic Resonance	Professional/Scientific Journal	Reviewer	External	National
Biochemistry	Professional/Scientific Journal	Reviewer	External	National
Journal of the American Chemical Society	Professional/Scientific Journal	Reviewer	External	National
Biophysical Journal	Professional/Scientific Journal	Reviewer	External	National
Magnetic Resonance in Chemistry	Professional/Scientific Journal	Reviewer	External	National
Analytical Chemistry	Professional/Scientific Journal	Reviewer	External	National
National Science Foundation	Study Section	Grant Reviewer	External	National
Canadian National Research Council	Professional/Scientific Journal	Reviewer	External	International
National Science Foundation of Ireland	Professional/Scientific Journal	Reviewer	External	International
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA)	Professional/Scientific Journal	Reviewer	External	National

Our laboratory works on problems related to the physical basis for the biological activity of proteins. Broadly, this includes their structure, dynamics, stability, and interactions with other molecules. Some specific questions we are interested in include:

The relationship of protein dynamics and structure to biological activity. An example is the role of structure and dynamics in the interaction between prolactin and the prolactin receptor. Prolactin is involved in hundreds of biochemical pathways, and has been shown to be involved in cancer (expression levels of both prolactin and its receptor are elevated in some forms of breast cancer). Understanding the physical basis for prolactin-receptor interaction will aid the search for molecules that inhibit or enhance the signaling functions of prolactin.

In collaboration with Professor Choukri Ben-Mamoun we are investigating the structural biology of Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite that causes malaria. Despite the devastating impact of malaria on the developing world, cheap, safe, and effective treatments for malaria remain elusive. We are solving the structure of an enzyme that is essential for the survival of Plasmodium that has no homologs in mammals, and thus is potentially an important drug target. We plan to solve the structures of additional Plasmodium proteins.

We are collaborating with Professor Sandra Weller on structural studies of proteins from herpes simplex virus. These are particularly challenging proteins to investigate, but the insights that can be derived from these studies should shed light on mechanisms of essential processes such as DNA replication, and could guide the discovery of novel antiviral compunds.

We employ a variety of physical and computational methods, especially NMR, and also circular dichroism, fluoresence, and ultraviolet/visible absorption spectroscopies, water activity, differential and isothermal titration calorimietry, non-Fourier spectrum analysis, and molecular dynamics simulations.

The NMR resources at the UConn Health Center are outstanding, and include spectrometers operating at 400, 500, 600, and 800 MHz. The latter three instruments are equipped with state-of-the-art cryogenically cooled probes. Computational resources include a power 1000-node cluster shared with the Center for Cell Analysis and Modeling.

Accepting Lab Rotation Students: Fall Block 2024, Spring 1 and 2 Block 2025

Journal Articles

Books

Book Sections

Letters

Notes

Reviews

Title or Abstract	Type	Sponsor/Event	Date/Year	Location
Non-Fourier Methods of Signal Processing; Fundamentals of Uniform and Nonuniform Sampling	Lecture	Gregory P. Mullen NMR Structural Biology Facility	2012	Farmington, CT
NMR in Biology: An Evergreen	Lecture	University of Massachusetts Boston	2012	Boston, MA
ABC's of NUS	Lecture	Experimental NMR Conference	2012	Miami