Title: Ultrafast Molecular Biophysics

Speaker: Dongping Zhong, Department of Physics, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Programs of Biophysics, Chemical Physics and Biochemistry, The Ohio State University, USA

Time and place: 3:30-4:30p, Nov. 19, 2012 (Monday), Room 111, Physics Building

Abstract:

Modern biological physics has been significantly advanced recently with rapid developments of various physical techniques and molecular biology methods. Complex biological machinery can be investigated at the most fundamental level and thus molecular mechanisms are elucidated. Here, we present our recent studies of several important biological systems by integrating femtosecond spectroscopy and site-directed mutations. We are able to map out the entire evolution of biological dynamics in real time and reveal their molecular mechanisms with unprecedented details.

Biography (Dongping Zhong):

Dongping Zhong received his B.S. in laser physics from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from California Institute of Technology in 1999 under Prof. Ahmed H. Zewail. For his Ph.D. work, Dr. Zhong received the Herbert Newby McCoy Award and the Milton and Francis Clauser Doctoral Prize from Caltech. He continued his postdoctoral research in the same group with focus on protein dynamics. In 2002, he joined The Ohio State University as an Assistant Professor and currently he is Robert Smith Professor of Physics and Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry. He is the Packard Fellow, Sloan Fellow, Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar, APS Fellow, AAAS Fellow, as well as the recipient of the NSF CAREER award. His research interests include biomolecular interactions and ultrafast protein/enzyme dynamics.