Douglas E. Smith


Professor

Department of Physics
University of California, San Diego                
Natural Science Building, Mail Code 0379
9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093
Email: des@physics.ucsd.edu
http://physics.ucsd.edu/~des/

Publications:  Click here for Google Scholar Listing

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Research topics:
�  Viral DNA packaging in bacteriophages phi29, lambda, and T4
�  Function of ATP-dependent molecular motors
�  Single polymer dynamics (polymer physics, DNA properties, microrheology)
�  Chromatin assembly and structure
�  Protein mediated DNA looping
�  DNA Unzipping
�  Physics of knot formation

Techniques:
�  Manipulation of single DNA molecules with Optical Tweezers
�  Single DNA molecule imaging by fluorescence microscopy
�  Molecular Biology and Biochemistry

 

Background:
Ph.D. Applied Physics, Stanford University, 1999
    Thesis research: Manipulation and imaging of single DNA molecules, Single polymer dynamics
    Advisor: Steve Chu

B.A. Physics, University of Chicago, 1993

Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, Berkeley, 1999-2001
    Research: Single-molecule studies of viral DNA packaging
    Advisor: Carlos Bustamante

 

Awards:
�  Sloan Foundation Fellow, 2003
�  Beckman Young Investigator Award, 2003
�  Searle Scholars Award, 2002
�  Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award in Biomedical Science, 2001
�  Research Corporation Research Innovation Award, 2001
�  Graduate Fellowship, NSF Program in Mathematics and Molecular Biology, 1996
�  Sigma Xi Science Prize, 1993
�  Elected to Phi Beta Kappa, 1993

   
Recent collaborators:

Prof. Michael Feiss, Dept. of Microbiology and Genetics, University of Iowa
�  Profs. Shelley Grimes, Paul Jardine, and Dwight Anderson, Dept. of Diagnostic & Biological Sci., Univ. of Minnesota 
�  Prof. Carlos Catalano, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of Washington
�  Prof. Venigalla Rao, Department of Biology, Catholic University of America
�  Prof. James Kadonaga, Division of Biology, University of California, San Diego
�  Prof. Gaurav Arya, Dept. of Nanoengineering, University of California, San Diego

updated 7/2015