Biophysical Chemistry at Georgia State University
Grant and Amelia presented their work in person at the Biophysical Society meeting in San Francisco. It was a wonderful experience to showcase our research and network with friends and colleagues after a prolonged absence due to the pandemic.
Our collaborative work with Dr. John Wyrick at Washington State University on the induction of UV photodamage of DNA by the gene insulator protein CTCF was published in the EMBO Journal. We are additionally thrilled that the article was featured in Molecular and Cellular Oncology. We are grateful to Dr. Wyrick’s his team for the opportunity to translating our expertise in transcription factor biophysics to DNA damage.
We are thrilled that our new paper in Phys Chem Chem Phys was featured in the journal’s 2021 HOT Articles collection. This work combined experimental thermodynamics and computations to illustrate how dynamics in sidechains away from the DNA binding interface can modulate nonspecific binding, thereby controlling target selectivity. As always, we are grateful to Dr. W. David Wilson’s group for being wonderful experimental partners in our investigations.
We are thrilled that our efforts in a multi-center collaboration led by Dr. Neil Romberg at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia has been published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine. This work advances our knowledge of PU.1 all the way from fundamental biophysics to patient outcomes. We are grateful to Dr. Romberg’s leadership and look forward to continued success in leveraging molecular insights into biomedical advances.
Another successful collaboration in the “Imagine the Future” program run by the Atlanta Science Festival. This year, Gregory visited a class of first grade students virtually on Zoom at Fernbank Elementary School in Decatur, GA. We shared an hour of fun presentation on color and a live demo of separating dyes by paper chromatography. My thanks to Ms. Hunsberger and Ms. Smith for running a smooth hybrid classroom.
Congratulations to Van for our first paper in the journal of the Biophysical Society. This work marks a major effort in our group to combine volumetric and molecular dynamics simulations to understand the role of solvent in the selectivity of DNA minor groove binding. Our model compound, DB1976, has been gaining increasing attention for its therapeutic potential as a PU.1 inhibitor in leukemia, rheumatologic, and obesity-related liver disorders. We are grateful, as always, to Dr. Dave Boykin and his fantastic synthetic group for making this unique compound available.
Gregory visited the fifth grade classes at Stonewall Tell Elementary and spoke to the students about chemistry, told them stories about the anormalous properties of liquid water (not quite in those terms, but you get the idea) and how they determine how trees depend on them for moving water against gravity, and how they might pursue a career in STEM. It was fun! My thanks for the Atlanta Science Festival for organizing this event (“Imagine the Future“) and Ms. Adero Carter, STEM Coordinator at Stonewall Tell for handling my schedule and snapping the pictures.
Congratulations to Suela and all the co-authors for a major publication in Sciences Advances. This paper unveils a new self-regulatory mechanism by PU.1, a divergent member of the ETS family of transcription factor. PU.1 is a key mediator in an emerging number of series illnesses including leukemia, organ fibrosis, and obesity-related liver disease.
We are very grateful to our collaborators, Drs. Markus Germann and Siming Wang here at GSU as well as Dr. James Aramini at CUNY for their contributions that made this possible. Link at Science Advances.
