Physical Chemistry Seminar: Professor Glen Hocky, New York University

About the Seminar:

What can I get for one piconewton? How biological molecules respond to thermal scale mechanical forces

In order to perform some of their most important functions, cells must be able to generate, sense, and respond to mechanical forces. Many mechanosensing proteins have been discovered that are believed to change their behavior in a predictable and repeatable way when they are under mechanical tension. Yet, in most of these cases, we don't know the molecular details of how this force shifts the conformations adopted by the protein, or how this then leads to a concomitant change in function. The molecular basis of mechanosensing can in principle be predicted using molecular simulation techniques, however this approach has either not been employed or not been successful because of the small magnitude of forces involved and the large size and complexity of the mechanosensors. In this talk, I will discuss our efforts to develop molecular simulation techniques to overcome this challenge, and applications to mechanically sensitive processes in biology and in soft matter physics.

About the Speaker: 

Glen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Simons Center for Computational Physical Chemistry at New York University. His research interests broadly involve using (and developing new) techniques from statistical mechanics and computational modeling to better understand how molecular interactions give rise to large scale collective phenomena. His research interests lie at the intersection between chemistry, physics, biology, and materials science. Prior to NYU, Glen was an NIH postdoctoral fellow in the James Franck Institute at the University of Chicago and a graduate student in Chemical Physics at Columbia University.
 

Host: Tom Markland