Jhih-Wei Chu

Research Interests

Our research program aims to understand how the atomistic scale information of biomolecules (chemistry) governs processes occurring at larger scales in the cell (biology) and applies this knowledge in therapeutic discovery, protein engineering and stabilization, biomaterial science, and the design of molecular devices (engineering). For this purpose, computational methodologies that can be used to propagate information across multiple temporal and spatial domains are being developed and applied to study various biomolecular systems. Current research projects include the allosteric modulation of membrane receptors, mechanical responses of biomolecules, effects of shear on protein conformation and protein-protein interactions, protein stability at oil/water interfaces, and the self-assembly of biomaterials.

Research Summary

Our research program aims to understand how the atomistic scale information of biomolecules (chemistry) governs processes occurring at larger scales in the cell (biology) and applies this knowledge in therapeutic discovery, protein engineering and stabilization, biomaterial science, and the design of molecular devices (engineering). For this purpose, computational methodologies that can be used to propagate information across multiple temporal and spatial domains are being developed and applied to study various biomolecular systems. Current research projects include the allosteric modulation of membrane receptors, mechanical responses of biomolecules, effects of shear on protein conformation and protein-protein interactions, protein stability at oil/water interfaces, and the self-assembly of biomaterials.

Selected Publications

Chu, J.-W. and Voth, G.A., Coarse-grained modeling of the actin filament derived from atomistic-scale simulations. Biophys. J., 2006. 90(2): p. 1572-1582.

Chu, J.-W. and Voth, G.A., Allostery of actin filaments: Molecular dynamics simulations and coarse-grained analysis. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A., 2005. 102(37): p. 13111-13116.

Chu, J.-W. and Trout, B.L., On the mechanisms of oxidation of organic sulfides by h2o2 in aqueous solutions. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2004. 126(3): p. 900-908.

Chu, J.-W., Brooks, B.R., and Trout, B.L., Oxidation of methionine residues in aqueous solutions: Free methionine and methionine in granulocyte colony-stimulating factor. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2004. 126(50): p. 16601-16607.

Chu, J.-W., Trout, B.L., and Brooks, B.R., A super-linear minimization scheme for the nudged elastic band method. J. Chem. Phys., 2003. 119(24): p. 12708-12717.