Thesis defence of Nathaniel Stanley: "Understanding disordered and membrane protein recognition by molecular dynamics"

On 24th of April at 11:00, Nathaniel Stanley, member of the Computational Biophysics group of GRIB (IMIM-UPF) will defend his thesis at Josep Marull Room (QMAR building). You are all invited to this event.

Abstract:

All biological processes are governed by interactions of macromolecules that occur at atomic scale. However, our ability to directly observe such processes is often limited by experimental constraints due to the characteristic scales at which they occur. Such limitations mandate the use of modeling techniques such as molecular dynamics simulations to extend our understanding of these phenomena. The goal of this thesis has been to use molecular dynamics simulations, in conjunction with advanced analysis techniques, to elucidate biological processes at the atomistic scale. We have used the distributed computing project GPUGRID.net and Markov State Model analysis to study molecular processes in disordered proteins and membranes systems. In each case we have been able to give a full atomic picture of events only hinted at by other methods, and in some cases we observe things entirely hidden from other methods. These successes reinforce the importance of molecular simulations as an exploratory tool in the biological sciences.