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 Medical Center
University of Southern Mississippi
Mississippi State University
University of Alabama in Huntsville
Board of Directors:
Jack Correia, UMC
Randy Wadkins, University of Mississippi
Ed Lewis, MIss State University
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:
Meetings of Interest:
Mississippi Biophysical Consortium, Starkville, MS, May 28th-29th, 2009. Program attached here!
Gibbs Conference on Biothermodynamics, Carbondale, Il, Oct 3rd - 6th, 2009.
Biophysical Society, San Francisco, CA Feb 20 - 24, 2010
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
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
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
Members @ OLEMISS:
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.
Robert J. Doerksen: University of Mississippi (UM), Department of
Medicinal Chemistry, School of Pharmacy: rjd@olemiss.edu
Major Biophysical Equipment: Computer hardware: 64-core Beowulf
cluster, 8-core workstation, and other workstations. Computer
software: Q-Chem, Schrodinger, CPMD.
Biophysical Expertise: Quantum chemistry, quantum chemical and
molecular dynamics, including ab initio molecular dynamics, docking,
binding free energy calculations, comparative protein modeling,
pharmacophore modeling, and quantitative structure-property
relationships to model and understand protein structure and
dynamics, enzyme catalysis and protein-ligand interactions.
Members @ Miss. College:
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
Vijay Rangachari: University of Southern Mississippi (USM), Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry: Vijay.Rangachari@usm.edu Vijay.Rangachari@usm.edu
Major Biophysical Equipment:
Protein misfodling in neurodegenerative diseases. Biophysics of amyloid aggregation in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Rational structure based drug design. Use of traditional medicines in drug design.
Biophysical Expertise:
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