Ivet Bahar
Professor, Department of Computational Biology
3064 Biomedical Science Tower 3
412-648-3332, 3163(fax)
bahar@ccbb.pitt.edu
http://www.ccbb.pitt.edu/research/Bahar_Lab/
We are interested in gaining an understanding of the molecular
basis of biological function by characterizing the
molecular-to-cellular dynamics of biomolecular systems. We use
computational and mathematical models of different complexities
for simulating dynamic processes at different levels. At the
molecular level, we focus on the conformational dynamics of
proteins, including folding, domain movements, and/or local
fluctuations, and their perturbation by ligand binding. Examples
of our work in this area are the structural dynamics of
enzyme-inhibitor interactions, the collective motions of viral
capsids, or the ribosomal machinery. Direct computational
assessment provides information on the collective dynamics of
the enzyme and enables a better
mechanistic understanding of how the inhibitors work. At
the cellular level, we focus on the interactions involved in
cell cycle regulation and signaling. We are interested not only
in answering specific biological questions, but in developing
new, widely applicable theories and computational tools,
including in particular those based on network
models, for improving our understanding of biomolecular
machinery.
|
GroEL 1GR5.png: A bottom view of protein
chaperonin GroEL (PDB ID: 1GR5). This image was
generated by PyMOL, colored by chains. Under the
transparent surface, the secondary structure is shown in
ribbon diagram. GroEL contains two rings. Each ring is
assembled from seven identical chains. |
