Thomas Bishop

Steroid-Receptor Interactions: The goal of this project, in general terminology, is to understand the mechanism of binding between selected chemical compounds and proteins. Molecular dynamics simulations (computer modeling) of the interactions between steroid hormones (estrogen, testosterone, progesterone…) or environmental hormones (various agri-chemicals or naturally occurring chemicals found in plants) and the estrogen receptor are being conducted for this purpose.

Elastic Rod Model of DNA: The goal of this project is to develop a model of DNA that describes how DNA exists in solution and within the cell. The model is based on elastic rod theory (think of anything that is longer than it is wide, e.g. fishing line, hair, piano wire, …). The mathematical equations describing the shape and dynamics of such a rod date back to the time of Euler, but have only been solved recently. This work includes some interesting math; some provocative ideas about the structure and dynamics of DNA; and some open questions regarding the accuracy of numerical integration.

Visual Molecular Dynamics is available from The Theoretical Biophysics Group