Dr. Barney Bales
Research in the Center for Supramolecular Studies: The title of a recent book, "The Colloidal Domain. Where physics, chemistry, biology, and technology meet," describes well the area of interest in our lab. The colloid domain occupies the interest of perhaps the most diverse group of scientists in the world. Colloids are interesting to study from purely a basic research perspective because they pose some questions that arouse ones curiosity. We are particularly interested in colloids that form spontaneously in water. Ordinary soap provides a good example of such colloids. Soap dissolves in water, forms colloids in which oil is soluble, which carries away the oil from a dirty pair of hands. Soaps, detergents, and components of the biological membrane are a few examples of molecules that have a dual personality. One end of the molecule is soluble in oil while the other end is soluble in water. This dual personality allows these molecules to go into solution in water, but once there, they often self-assemble to form larger structures. One such structure is the so-called micelle. Our research strives to understand the physical properties of micelles.Back to Top
Dr. Duane Doty
In the Low Energy Nuclear Laboratory Professor Doty's students measure background radiation in the environment. This form of radiation is important since we live in it and cancers and genetic mutations are caused by it. The students identify the type and source of the gamma rays and find where they are weaker and stronger. Other students try to model the observed radiation using computers. Many students from Dr. Doty's lab go on to earn the Ph. D. degree at advanced Universities or easily find employment at local technical installations.Back to Top
Dr. Donald Jacobs
My current research interests centers on understanding protein flexibility, stability and folding using theoretical and computational tools of statistical physics. The focus of my molecular biophysics group is to accurately characterize protein conformational flexibility. We study structure-flexibility-function relationships and investigate correspondences between flexibility and stability. The scientific significance of this research is potentially far reaching, with many applications in protein engineering and drug design. Locating flexible regions may assist in predicting conformational changes induced upon binding of a substrate. Specificity in function may be related to rigid regions that act as templates for molecular binding. Algorithms for docking and simulation of long-time motions may be improved by using quantitative measures that characterize intrinsic conformational flexibility. The flexibility measures may become a useful finger-printing system whereby they could facilitate high throughput bioinformatic studies.Back to Top
Dr. Stephen Walton
Dr. Stephen Walton's main research interests are solar variability, solar magnetic fields, and image analysis. Dora Preminger, Dr. Gary Chapman, and he have co-authored a recent paper presenting new models for the variation in the solar energy output based on images taken with the telescopes at the San Fernando Observatory. Previously, he has written on computer techniques for the automatic identification of solar features such as sunspots on large data sets and the rapid estimation of solar magnetic fields. His most recent project, carried out jointly with Dr. Matthew Penn of the National Solar Observatory, is observations of the Sun using a new infrared camera at SFO.Back to Top