The biochemistry research area of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCSB offers a wide range of research possibilities. Common themes encompass enzyme structure-function studies, RNA folding and modification, transcriptional regulation, epigenetics, membranes and membrane proteins, bioinorganic chemistry, protein folding, molecular motors, biomaterials and biomolecular engineering.
Experimental and computational methods employed in the department span the range of modern approaches, including rapid kinetic analysis, diverse spectroscopy techniques (e.g., CD, UV, NMR), biomolecular structure determination (NMR and X-ray), AFM, mass spectrometric analysis and the full gamut of computational techniques.
Biochemistry Research Faculty
- Greene, Brandon
Biomolecular non-equilibrium reaction control, bioenergy, biogeochemistry, human health - Hai, Yang
New enzyme functions, biocatalysis, biopolymers, biomaterials - Hanein, Dorit
Correlative light and electron cryogenic microscopy, in situ cellular tomography - Jaeger, Luc
RNA structure, assembly and biophysics, RNA evolution, RNA synthetic biology, RNA bionanotechnology - Mukherjee, Arnab
biomolecular engineering, deep-tissue imaging, synthetic biology - Plaxco, Kevin
Biomaterials, biophysics, electrochemistry, sensors - Reich, Norbert
DNA methylation mechanisms, epigentics, proteomics, cell biological tools
Lecturer Faculty
- Kahn, Kalju
Computational modeling of biochemical problems
Emeritus Faculty
- Bruice, T.C.
Bioorganic, synthesis, computational biochemistry - Gerig, J. Thomas
Small molecule-protein interactions, biophysical chemistry - Han, Song-I
Biophysics, highly-amplified (DNP) NMR, membrane-protein systems - Little, Daniel
Biosynthetic chemistry, redox chemistry - Parsons, Stanley
Acetylcholine uptake in neuronal vesicles, biological chemistry - Perona, John
T-RNA synthetases, protein crystallography, biological chemistry