JAKOBSSON, Eric J.

Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, Biochemistry

Biophysics and Computational Biology, NCSA, Beckman Institute, Bioengineering

Neuroscience
Ph.D. (1969) Dartmouth College

   Research Topics

• Structure and Function of Membrane Proteins with emphasis on Ion Channels
• Membrane Structure
• Use of Technology in Biology Education
• Ion Channels as devices

   Research Interests  

1. Computational Studies of Membrane Structures.  This work is supported by the NIH and is done in collaboration with the lab of Larry Scott of Illinois Institute of Technology.  This work utilizes massive computation and statistical mechanical analysis to understand the interaction of biomolecules in heterogenous membranes, with initial emphasis on lipid/cholesterol interactions.
2. Computational Studies of Structure/Function Relationships in Biological Ion Channels. This work is being supported by the Genomes to Life program of the Department of Energy.  The main intellectual thrust of the work has been to develop and implement multiscale computational techniques to describe ion flux in proteins.
3. Computational Studies of Ion Channels as Nanodevices. Preliminary support for this work was from the National Center for Supercomputing Applications.  An application is pending at the National Institutes of Health.
4. Classification, Functional Annotation, and Evolution of Ion Channels.  This project, supported by the National Science Foundation, takes two complementary approaches to the problem in the title; i) Phylogeny of active sites and/or other “signature” regions for first-pass rapid classification and annotation, and ii) Multiple profile analysis for comprehensive highly accurate classification and annotation.  The project also will calibrate the different speeds at which the molecular evolutionary clock runs for different regions of the genes in voltage-gated ion channels, and seek to understand these speeds in terms of the distribution of function along the gene.  In the largest sense, the theme of this project is to combine understanding of function in ion channels with sequence bioinformatics techniques to synthesize a unified biophysical and evolutionary understanding of channels—to understand ion channel function on time scales from nanoseconds to billions of years.
5. Structural Modeling of Potassium Channels. This work is a spin-off from Projects #1 and #2.  In this work we will use information-based potentials and “smart” Monte Carlo techniques for conformational sampling to model potassium channels.

   Key Words  Ion Channels, Membrane Structure, Cholesterol, Rofts, Nanodevices

   Current Research Funding NSF, Pfizer, NIH, Department of Energy,

CBC Members