MCW Biophysics Research

Knowing the structures, dynamics, and interactions of biological molecules is essential for understanding how they function in human health or misfunction in disease. Faculty, staff, and students in the Department of Biophysics develop and use a wide array of interdisciplinary technologies to gain insights about biomolecular structures and functions. Research projects focus on receptor signaling, drug resistance, microbial pathogenesis, redox biology, and diseases of aging. State-of-the-art resources are available for electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), X-ray crystallography, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, and cryo-electron microscopy.

EPR is a powerful technology for characterizing the structures and dynamics of biomolecules in vitro, in cells, and in many other biological samples. We are home to the National Biomedical EPR Center, the most extensive EPR research resource in the nation. Research conducted at the EPR Center includes technological innovations and applications of new technologies to biological problems that range from receptor signaling in cancer and vascular diseases, drug resistance, microbial pathogenesis, redox biology, and diseases of aging. The EPR Center is supported by specialized engineering staff and houses an array of internally developed and commercial state-of-the-art instrumentation for biomedical applications.

Understanding the biological mechanisms of protein function at the atomic level is critical for gaining biomedical insights about human health and for therapeutic drug development. NMR is ideally suited for this task because NMR signals are highly sensitive to the local environment of biomolecules, and capable of reporting on even very small structural changes, very weak intermolecular interactions, and multiple scales of dynamics. Our state-of-art NMR laboratory allows us to examine the structures, dynamics, and interactions of biomolecules in complex multi-component assemblies, including cells and other types of native samples to address problems in cancer, microbial pathogenesis, and diseases of aging.

We are pioneers in functional magnetic resonance imaging MRI (fMRI). MCW students and faculty published the first paper on fMRI in 1992 and on resting-state fMRI in 1995. Today, MCW continues to be at the forefront of MRI research, with extensive focus on both technology development and clinical applications. Research focuses on the design and implementation of new coils, MRI methods, spectroscopy, and image analysis software, as well as clinical applications of MRI to early disease detection and assessment of treatment efficacy in neurological and psychiatric disorders, Alzheimer’s disease, and cancer. Strong interdisciplinary collaborations centering on chronic pain mechanisms, psychiatric depression, and other fields in neuroscience.