Director,
Sealy Center for Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics
Robert A. Welch Distinguished Chair in Chemistry,
Departments of Pharmacology & Toxicology
and Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
5.226 Research Bldg 6
Route:
0304 |
Tel: |
Fax: (409) 772-0725 |
mpettitt@utmb.edu
Lab Web Page
Research
The research in my laboratory involves work in the areas of : (1) Biochemistry, (2) Chemical Physics/Physical Chemistry and (3) Computer Science. In particular:
- Predicting the thermodynamic pressures including the osmotic pressure necessary to confine DNA in bacteriophages.
- Effects of cosolvents and ions on structrures of proteins and nucleic acis in multicomponent aqueous solutions.
- Effects of anisotropic environments, e.g., electric fields, solvent gradients and density waves near surfaces, on DNA and proteins tethered to surfaces.
- Theory and computational methods to investigate solution systems with couplings and correlations at many disparate length and time scales.
- Computational theory of exotic statistical ensembles and sampling methods, especially, the sampling issues of chemical potential related to phase behavior.