Abstract
The development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems began in 1967 with publications by Warshel and Levitt recently recognized by the 2013 Nobel Committee for Chemistry. The simplifications used then at the dawn of the age of computational structural biology were mandated by computers that were almost a billion times less cost-effective than those we use today. These same multiscale models have become increasingly popular in applications that range from simulation of atomic protein motion, to protein folding and explanation of enzyme catalysis. In this talk, the speaker will describe the origins of computational structural biology and then go on to show some of the most exciting current and future applications.
About the speaker
Prof Michael Levitt received his PhD in Biophysics from the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Cambridge University in 1971. He had been faculty at the Weizmann Institute and Cambridge University. He joined Stanford University in 1987, and is currently Robert W. and Vivian K. Cahill Endowed Professor in Cancer Research.
Prof Levitt’s research interests include RNA & DNA modeling, protein folding simulation, classification of protein folds & protein geometry, antibody modeling, x-ray refinement, antibody humanization, side-chain geometry, torsional normal mode, molecular dynamics in solution, secondary structure prediction, aromatic hydrogen bonds, structure databases, and mass spectrometry. His current work focuses on protein evolution, the crystallographic phase problem and Cryo-EM refinement.
Prof Levitt received the 2013 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, together with Profs Martin Karplus and Arieh Warshel, for their development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems. He is also recipient of the Federation of European Biochemical Societies Anniversary Prize. He is a Member of the US National Academy of Sciences and the European Molecular Biology Organization, and a Fellow of the Royal Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
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