Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

2011-12 General Catalog

Physical and Biological Sciences Undergraduate Affairs Office
387 Thimann Laboratories
(831) 459-4143
http://undergrad.pbsci.ucsc.edu

Program Description | Course Descriptions

Faculty and Professional Interests

Professor

Manuel Ares Jr., Professor, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental  Biology
RNA processing, structure and function of RNA

Ilan Benjamin, Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Theoretical chemistry, molecular dynamics of chemical reactions in liquids and at interfaces

Claude F. Bernasconi, Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Kinetic studies of fast reactions, organic reaction mechanisms, acid-base catalysis, proton transfers, nucleophilic reactions, organometallic reactions, ab initio molecular orbital calculations

Needhi Bhalla, Assistant Professor, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology
Meiotic chromosome dynamics

Hanns H. Boeger, Assistant Professor, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology
Chromatin structure and the regulation of transcription

Roberto A. Bogomolni, Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Biophysical chemistry, photobiology, light energy conversion and signal transduction in biological systems

Barry Bowman, Professor, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology
Membrane biochemistry and genetics, biochemistry and molecular biology of membrane proteins

Rebecca Braslau, Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Synthetic organic chemistry: new synthetic methodologies using free radicals; nitroxides, nitroxide mediated "living" polymerizations: design and functionalization of tailored polymers for biomedical applications and nanotechnology, profluorescent nitroxides as sensors

Bin Chen, Assistant Professor, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology
Mammalian brain development

Shaowei Chen, Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Synthesis, characterization, and manipulation of novel functional nanomaterials (metals and semiconductors); surface engineering of nanoparticles; nanoscale electron transfer; applications in fuel cells, photocatalysis, photovoltaics, and nano optoelectronics.

Philip O. Crews, Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Marine natural products chemistry, bioorganic chemistry, organic structural analysis by NMR, natural products of marine macro- and microorganisms

Ólöf Einarsdóttir, Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Time-resolved spectroscopy; biophysics and bioenergetics; heme-copper oxidases; electron transfer and ligand binding; application of photolabile NO and 02 donors; molecular dynamics simulations of ligand access channels in heme-copper oxidases

David Feldheim, Professor, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology
Developmental neuroscience

Grant Hartzog, Professor, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology
Biochemistry, genetics, chromatin and transcriptional regulation

Lindsay Hinck, Professor, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology
Breast development and cancer, cell biology, development

Theodore R. Holman, Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Biochemistry and bioinorganic chemistry; lipoxygenase enzymology, protein engineering, inhibitor discovery, computer inhibitor design, mass spectroscopy, electron paramagnetic resonance

Melissa Jurica, Associate Professor, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology
Structure and function of human splicing machinery

Rohinton T. Kamakaka, Professor, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology
Chromatin domains, epigenetic gene regulation and insulators

Douglas R. Kellogg, Professor, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology
Coordination of cell growth and cell division

David S. Kliger, Emeritus, Chemistry and Biochemistry

Joseph P. Konopelski, Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Synthetic organic chemistry; heterocyclic chemistry, bioorganic chemistry

Yat Li, Assistant Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Experimental physical chemistry, materials chemistry, nanomaterials, nanoscale photonics and electronics, energy conversion

Roger G. Linington, Assistant Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Marine natural products; drugs for neglected diseases; chemical biology; chemical probes

R.Scott Lokey, Associate Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Organic chemistry; combinatorial synthesis, biotechnology, molecular cell biology

Robert A. Ludwig, Professor, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental  Biology
Plant microbe interactions, photorespiration, genetic recombination in plants

Pradip Mascharak, Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Bioinorganic chemistry, design of antitumor drugs, modeling of active sites of metalloenzymes, design of catalysts for hydrocarbon oxidation, studies on intermediates in non-heme oxygenase chemistry, design of NO-donors for photodynamic therapy

Glenn L. Millhauser, Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Electron spin resonance; nuclear magnetic resonance, melanocortin receptor signaling, agouti proteins, prions, peptide synthesis

Harry F. Noller, Professor, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology
Ribosomes, RNA structure and function, RNA protein interaction

Scott R. Oliver, Associate Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Materials chemistry: nanoporous crystals for environmental cleanup, catalysis and biomaterials; polymer templating of metal oxides for solar cells and water splitting

Amy Ralston, Assistant Professor, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology
Origins and regulation of mammalian stem cells

Michael Rexach, Professor, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology
Structure and function of nuclear pore complex, nuclear transport

Seth M. Rubin, Assistant Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Biomolecular mechanisms of cell-cycle regulation and cancer; structural biology and biochemistry; macromolecular x-ray crystallography; nuclear magnetic resonance

Jeremy Sanford, Assistant Professor, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology
Genomic analysis of protein-RNA interactions

William M. Saxton, Professor, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology
Cytoskeletal motors and active transport processes

Thomas W. Schleich, Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Biomedical magnetic resonance spectroscopy, magnetic resonance imaging, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, biophysical chemistry

William G. Scott, Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Structure and function of RNA, proteins, and their complexes, origin of life

Bakthan Singaram, Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Organic synthesis, organoborane chemistry, heterocyclic chemistry, organometallic chemistry, asymmetric synthesis, biosensors, and natural products chemistry

Michael Stone, Assistant Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Molecular basis of telomere length and telomerase-related diseases; biophysical characterization of nucleic acid-associated molecular motors; development of novel approaches for imaging enzymes in cells

Susan Strome, Professor, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology
Chromatin and RNA regulation in C. elegans

William T. Sullivan, Professor, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology
Cell cycle, cytoskeleton, and host-pathogen interactions

Eugene Switkes, Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Quantum theory applied to problems in chemistry and biochemistry; visual information processing, spatial vision, color vision

John W. Tamkun, Professor, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental  Biology
Transcriptional regulation, molecular genetics of Drosophila development, regulation of gene expression

W. Todd Wipke, Emeritus, Chemistry and Biochemistry

Alan M. Zahler, Professor, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology
Molecular biology, splice site selection, and alternative pre-mRNA processing

Jin Z. Zhang, Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Design, synthesis, characterization, and application of nanomaterials, including semiconductors, metals, and metal oxides; ultrafast dynamics and laser spectroscopy; cancer diagnosis and therapy; solar energy conversion; surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS).

Martha C. Zúñiga, Professor, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology
Molecular, cellular, and developmental biology of the immune system

Yi Zuo , Assistant Professor, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental  Biology
Synaptic plasticity in learning and memory

Revised: 8/13/12