Yu-Shan Lin
Professor Vijay Pande (Chemistry)

Mounting research evidence suggests that soluble oligomers of amyloid beta (ß) peptide play a causal role in Alzheimers disease. This research project describes an interdisciplinary approach to provide valuable insight into the important problem of A? oligomerization. We propose to utilize advanced simulation techniques to provide structural, thermodynamic, and kinetic information on the structure and the oligomerization of A? peptides. We shall obtain testable spectroscopic predictions by integrating our simulations with theoretical vibrational spectroscopy.

Tristan Ursell
Professor Kerwyn Huang (Bioengineering)

My research has concentrated on the mesoscopic scale, where proteins, lipids, and their aggregates are examined as mechanical elements that respond to stresses in the environment. My goal is to probe the importance of physical and mechanical forces in mechanisms driving cellular organization, by integrating approaches from experimental cell biology, biochemistry, and biophysics with theoretical studies based on mechanics, statistical physics, and computational biology. As a consequence, it will benefit from natural collaborations with faculty from the Schools of Medicine and Engineering.