Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
2012-13 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
Roger W. Anderson, Emeritus, Chemistry and Biochemistry
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
Hinrich 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, synthetically modified polymers
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, Emeritus, Chemistry and Biochemistry
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, 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, Emeritus, Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology
Scott R. Oliver, 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, Associate 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, Emeritus, 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
