First name,Last name,Preferred title,Overview,Position,Department,Individual
Junjie,Zhang,Associate Professor,"The living cell contains a collection of molecular machines to grow and function. These machines include the ribosomes, the chaperons, the proteasomes and other enzymes. Malfunction of these machines, if occurred in human, are related to many diseases. Understanding their three-dimensional (3D) structures is essential to understand how these machines work in the cell and eventually to treat those related diseases.
Here we use an experimental technique called cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) to image these cellular machines in their native environment at liquid nitrogen temperatures. We then use image processing and graphics techniques to visualize their 3D structures, answering the questions such as how they assemble and how they interact with each other.
In addition, we develop computational modeling tools to interpret and animate these obtained 3D structures to further describe their movements and dynamics.",Associate Professor,Biochemistry and Biophysics,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/n701e163f
Hays,Rye,Associate Professor,"A fundamental principle of biology is the use of chemical energy in the form of ATP to assemble, disassemble and alter macromolecular structure. Specialized control proteins known as molecular chaperones are often responsible for this activity and have been recognized in recent years to be essential for regulating many aspects of cellular biology. Using a variety of biophysical and biochemical techniques, the Rye lab focuses on three fundamental cellular processes that require molecular chaperones: (1) protein folding (2) protein disaggregation and (3) vesicle trafficking. In each of these cases, large quantities ATP are burned, resulting in molecular organization in the case of protein folding, and molecular disassembly and remodeling in the case of protein disaggregation and vesicle trafficking. We are interested in understanding the detailed biophysical mechanisms that underpin these events. Why are these processes so energetically expensive? Are there any similarities in how the energy is used between these very different molecular processes? Are there general principles of energy transduction in biology that can be gleaned by comparing these examples with other molecular machines, such as cytoskeletal motors? Understanding how molecular chaperones control protein and membrane organization will provide key insights into not only basic cell biology, but will also illuminate aspects of many diseases that spring from aberrant protein and membrane dynamics.",Associate Professor,Biochemistry and Biophysics,https://scholars.library.tamu.edu/vivo/display/ne7fb85e1