Mississippi Biophysical Consortium
Rationale: Investigators using biophysical techniques in the state of Mississippi have joined together into a user’s consortium to facilitate the sharing of instrumentation and analysis capabilities. This web page provides a list of members, their affiliation, instrumentation and biophysical expertise. Our goal first and foremost is getting Biophysical science done. By posting Biophysical resources and expertise on the MBC website we hope to facilitate getting experiments done and analyzed. This should enhance the quality and quantity of our research efforts, including undergraduate and graduate studies, and publication of our results in peer reviewed journals. This should further be useful in enhancing the Biophysical instrumentation available in the state through improved funding success, especially grants and proposals that involve shared instrumentation. Members listed on this web page agree to share access to equipment and resources and contribute to analysis and discussion of Biophysical data.
Disclaimer: Membership in this Consortium represents the opportunity for Mississippi Colleges and Universities participating in the Consortium to share resources (not financial), expertise, and collaborators in the general area of Biophysics. The parties understand and agree that being a member and listed on this web page does not commit any of the parties to participate in any of the specific activities discussed on this site.
The mission of the Mississippi Biophysical Consortium include: advertisement and sharing of biophysical instrumentation, topical seminars (advertised on this site), organizing workshops, and facilitating collaborations and grants.
Affiliated Institutions:
University of Mississippi
University of Mississippi Medical Center
Mississippi College
University of Southern Mississippi
Millsaps College
Mississippi State University
University of Alabama in Huntsville
Board of Directors:
Jack Correia, UMC
Randy Wadkins, University of Mississippi
Ed Lewis, MIss State University
Ed Valente, Mississippi College
Wolfgang Kramer, Millsaps College
Charles McCormick, University of Southern Mississippi
Techniques & Equipment:
Analytical Ultracentrifugation; Anton Paar DMA 500 density meter; laser optical tweezers; Olis Rapid scanning stopped-flow
Spectrophotomer.
Next Seminar / Workshop:
TBA
Meetings of Interest:
Inaugural Mississippi Biophysical Consortium, Oxford, MS, May 22nd-23rd, 2008.
Grant Proposals from MBC Members:
Under Development & inviting suggestions/collaborations:
Submitted:
July, 2007, Agency: NSF
Announcement: Phase 1. CCLI (Course, Curriculum, and Laboratory Improvement)
Title: "Integration of biothermodynamics, data analysis, and information science in a modern undergraduate chemistry curriculum."
PI: G. Reid Bishop co-PI's: Edward J. Valente and David H. Magers
Amount Requested: $115k
Purpose: Requesting funds for the purchase of a modern isothermal titration calorimeter and computing facility.
Aug, 2007: DOD proposal; PI: Randy Wadkins; "Time-domain, Temperature Jump Spectrofluorometery for Molecular Interactions " This proposal is to obtain funding for a time-domain spectrofluorometer (PicoQuant
FluoTime 200) that is also equipped with a Nd:YAG laser and a Raman Converter to serve as a
temperature-jump source. The proposed instrument will initially support 5 faculty members in the Department of
Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Mississippi (3 biophysical chemists, 1 physical
chemist, and 1 organic chemist). Additionally, the instrument will be made available to researchers throughout the state
and surrounding areas through the Mississippi Biophysical Consortium. The primary use of the instrument is in research and education of upper level undergraduate students as well as graduate students.
June, 2008: NIH/INBRE program, Wolfgang Kramer, Millsaps College, (Glen Shearer, USM, PI) Title: Synthesis of bifunctional DNA-cleaving onium salts as potential photodynamic therapy agents. 5 years, $100K per year direct costs. The aim of the project is to gain understanding of and synthesize non-oxygen requiring photodynamic therapy (PDT) agents. The Mississippi Biophysical Consortium is listed under a special section under Collaborators/Mentors.
Members @ UMMC:
John J Correia: UMMC, Biochemistry
Major Biophysical Equipment: Beckman XLA Analytical Ultracentrifuge; Anton Paar DMA 500 density meter; Anton Paar AMVn Automated Viscometer
Biophysical Expertise: Macromolecular Interactions; Thermodynamics of Anti-Mitotic Drugs; Microtubule Assembly
Core Facility: UMMC AUC Facility; Service for fee available
Drazen Raucher: UMMC, Biochemistry
Major Biophysical Equipment: Zeiss Axiovert 200 Microscope and
fluorescence capability for live cell studies; laser optical tweezers
Biophysical Expertise: confocal, fluorescence, flow cytometry, video
enhanced DIC microscopy.
Victor Davidson: UMMC, Biochemistry
Major Biophysical Equipment: Rapid scanning stopped-flow
Spectrophotomer.
Biophysical Expertise: Kinetic studies, steady-state and single turnover;
Determination of oxidation-reduction potentials of proteins and biological compounds
Jonathan Hosler: UMMC, Biochemistry
Major Biophysical Equipment: Spectro Genesis Inductively Coupled
Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometer
Biophysical Expertise: Quantitative metal analysis; Isolation of integral
membrane proteins; Oxygen electrode assays of mitochondrial function
Aimin Liu: UMMC, Biochemistry
Major Biophysical Equipment: X-band EPR spectrometer from Bruker Biospinequipped with 10" magnet, 4119HS resonator, EMX consol, ESR-900 cryostat, and System 1000 four-syringe rapid-freeze-quench and chemical-quench apparatus from Update Instrument, Inc.
Biophysical Expertise: EPR spectroscopy; resonance Raman spectroscopy
Susan Wellman: UMMC, Pharmacology:
swellman@pharmacology.umsmed.edu
Major biophysical equipment: Cary 100 UV-vis spectrophotometer with thermostable cell holder
Biophysical expertise: DNA-protein interactions; Thermal denaturation of DNA
Stan Smith: UMMC, Pharmacology:
svsmith@pharmacology.umsmed.edu
Major Biophysical Equipment: Laser Flash Photolysis Unit; Scanning Spectrophotometer
Biophysical Expertise: Conformational Dynamics and Drug/Ligand Binding of Macromolecules
John Kermode: UMMC, Pharmacology:
jkermode@pharmacology.umsmed.edu
Major biophysical equipment:
Biophysical expertise:
Rodney Baker: UMMC, Pharmacology:
rbaker@pharmacology.umsmed.edu
Major biophysical equipment: Liquid Chromatography/Tandem Mass Spectrometer, Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometer
Biophysical expertise: Mass Spectrometry; MS Core Facility @ UMC
Gina A. Sorci, UMMC, Physiology:
GSorci@physiology.umsmed.edu
Major biophysical equipment: Automated viscosmeter, Wyatt mini Dawn Light Scattering
Biophysical expertise: Physical properties of macromolecules in solution using light
scattering and viscometry; specifically the interactions of polyelctrolytes in
ionic solutions. Both experimental analysis as well as computational
modeling of these properties using theory.
Members @ OLEMISS:
Sean Wilson, Univ of Mississippi, Pharmacology:
Wilson@olemiss.edu
Major biophysical equipment: Wilson lab: Nikon TS100F for live cell fluorescence imaging, HEKA EPC10 patch-voltage clamp, Radnoti 4 bath wire myograph . Light Microscopy Core:Zeiss 510 META LSCM, Zeiss Axiovert 200M with Metamorph and Metfluor for histochemistry and live cell imaging. In Vitro Pharmacology CORE-NPN:, Perkin Elmer Envision with plate stacker, Perkin Elmer Topcount NTX with plate stacker.
Biophysical expertise: Patch-voltage clamp, real-time fluorescence microscopy and confocal microscopy
Randy Wadkins, Univ of Mississippi, Chemistry & Biochemistry: rwadkins@olemiss.edu
Major biophysical equipment: ISS K2 fluorescence lifetime instrument;
SGI Altix 3700 supercomputer (through Miss. Center for Supercomputing Res.); Mammalian cell culture.
Biophysical expertise: Ligand-DNA interactions; cellular
pharmacology; image processing; topoisomerase-interactive agents.
Susan Pedigo, Univ of Mississippi, Chemistry & Biochemistry:
spedigo@olemiss.edu
Major biophysical equipment: Aviv 202SF Circular Dichroism Spectrometer equipped with an automated titrimeter; Cary 50 Spectrophotometer; Microcal Nano II Differential Scanning Calorimeter
Biophysical expertise: Ligand binding, linked equilibria, protein stability
Mike Mossing, Univ of Mississippi, Chemistry & Biochemistry:
mmossing@olemiss.edu
Major biophysical equipment: JY Horiba/Spex Fluoromax 3
Spectrofluorometer, Akta Protein Chromatogaphy System, PE Cyclone
Phosphorimager.
Biophysical expertise: Thermodynamics and Kinetics of Protein-DNA
interactions; Protein Engineering, Protein Folding; CD, Fluorescence
and Protein NMR spectroscopy.
Members @ Miss. College:
G. Reid Bishop:Mississippi College (MC), Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry:
rbishop@mc.edu
Major Biophysical Equipment: Jasco J-815 circular dichroism (CD) spectropolarimeter equipped with simultaneous fluorescence detection and programmable Peltier temperature control; Calorimetry Sciences Corporation (CSC) nano-differential scanning calorimeter (nano-DSC II); Calorimetry Sciences Corporation (CSC) micro-isothermal titration calorimeter (CSC-4200); Dionex HPLC.
Biophysical Expertise: thermodynamics of nucleic acid and protein stability; small-molecule binding studies to nucleic acids and proteins; quantitative structural activity relationships.
Edward J. Valente: Mississippi College (MC), Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry: valente@mc.edu
Major Biophysical Equipment: JEOL Eclipse 400+ multi-nuclear 400 MHz magnetic resonance spectrometer equipped with low-temperature probe; Oxford Diffraction Gemini-S automated diffractometer with Cu and Mo sources, CCD area detector, and cryojet.
Biophysical Expertise: spectroscopy and structure determination of optically active drugs.
David H. Magers: Mississippi College (MC), Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry: magers@mc.edu
Major Biophysical Equipment: Parallel Quantum Solutions 16-node/32-processor Beowulf cluster running; 6 dual processor 64 bit and one quad-processor linux workstations; Gaussian 03', and Quickprop by Schrondinger.
Biophysical Expertise: ab initio calculations; molecular modeling of small molecules; advanced electronic structure theory.
Members @ USM:
Charles McCormick: University of Southern Mississippi (USM), Department of Polymer Science: Charles.McCormick@usm.edu
Member @ Millsaps College:
Wolfgang H. Kramer: Millsaps College, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry: kramewh@millsaps.edu
Major Biophysical Equipment: Luzchem Photoreactor with timer, stirrer and 300 and 350 nm lamps, Rayonet Photoreactor with 254nm lamps, ORIEL mercury arc-lamp with fiber-optics and filters, Jasco J-720 CD spectrometer.
Biophysical Expertise: Photochemistry of organic and bioorganic compounds
Member @ Mississippi State University:
Ed Lewis: MSU, Chair, Department of Chemistry: Edwin.Lewis@nau.edu
Major Biophysical Equipment:
Biophysical Expertise:
Member @ Univeristy of Alabama in Huntsville
John W Shriver: University of Alabama in Huntsville, Department of Chemistry and Biology, Director, Biomolecular NMR Laboratory: shriverj@uah.edu
Major Biophysical Equipment: 500 MHz Varian INOVA spectrometer with variable tempeature probe (-40
to 100 C), z-axis pulsed field gradients, three channel waveform
generators, and a micro LC 3 mm probe coupled to a Varian
chromatography workstation with stopped flow module. We also have a 5
mm Penta probe for H, C, N, P, and D NMR. 800 MHz Varian INOVA spectrometer with variable temperature probe (-40
to 100 C), tri-axial gradients, four channel waveform generators, and
H, C, N, D xyz PFG triple resonance probe
Biophysical Expertise: nmr
Techniques & Equipment:
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