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VOLKHARD HELMS |
Intramolecular and Supramolecular Protein Motion from Stochastic Dynamics Stimulation |
Personal Statement |
My interest and passion for theoretical work in biology does only date
back a couple of years. What was it that made me come here? And what made me stay? |
My father being a medical doctor in internal medicine, I soon decided
in high school that I didnít want to follow his footsteps since all he
did looked so ìempiricalî to me. Also, the biology we were taught in high
school didnít seem to contain too much logic in it either. Therefore I
started to study physics convinced that at least here one would get things
right. |
In the third and fourth year, I took a number of classes in non-standard
areas of physics (neuronal networks in technical optics, deterministic
chaos in neutron star systems, biophysics, and biocybernetics). Although
universities in Germany were very crowded at that time, only a small number
of students were interested in these classes. It was exciting to see new
concepts intrude into the well-established areas. Another good experience
was to work in an experimental research lab at university for two months,
and at Siemens for another two months. Here, I realized that physics is
no ìcleanî science either, as I had previously thought. |
Mathematics then became my field of choice because it is a ìcleanî science
and, in contrast to natural sciences, findings remain valid. A1so a solid
knowledge in mathematics enables you to attack physical problems you canít
deal with without. In applied physics, I chose biophysics because I became
fascinated by the objects of study, objects that live. At that time I didnít
know that this was going to be it. Mathematics and biology are really at
two extreme ends of the scientific scala. |
But since then I havenít left the field. Contrary to what I thought
in high school, our knowledge about many of the biological processes has
expanded amazingly. During my Ph.D. work, I gained experience in the simulation
of atomic scale protein motions. Especially, the dynamics of individual
solvent molecules and their interactions with proteins were studied. This
research proposal aims at increasing time scale and system size of interest
considerably, into an area that is directly relevant for many biological
processes in living cells. In future, I would like very much to work on
the development of new theoretical methods that push our quantitative understanding
of biological processes forwards. |
Today, we understand quite well how some of the crucial proteins work,
and in the near future, we will begin to understand how proteins interact
with each other. Progress in theoretical modelling will follow experimental
discoveries closely. One exciting project related to cAMPdependent protein
kinase is to try modelling the dynamic mechanism of the glycogen regulation
cascade, involving the enzymes cAPK, phophorylase kinase, and glycogen
phosphorylase. Such a project is still a bit out of reach today, mostly
due to lack of experimental data (for example, there is no complete crystal
structure of the multi-unit enzyme phosphorylase kinase available), but
will come into reach soon. The theoretical modelling of such dynamic processes
will certainly be based on similar models such as those proposed in this
study. The McCammon group at UCSD, the close collaboration with the Taylor
group, and the vibrant life and pace of the biomolecular community in San
Diego, including the Salk institute and the Scripps Research Institute,
provide a unique environment for my work in this direction. Still in Germany,
I would never have believed how active a university department can be.
This environment is a central part of my motivation to continue working
on an academic career at the interface of biology and quantitative sciences. |
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