About us.
The Columbus Lab at the University of Virginia strives to:
1. Understand the physical interactions between membrane proteins and lipids or membrane mimics
2. Investigate the structure, dynamics, and function of membrane proteins that mediate bacterial pathogen - host interactions
This Tutorial.
This tutorial aims to give advanced high school students or beginning undergraduates the opportunity to learn more about the field of biophysics, the major principles used, an introduction to biophysical approaches we use in the lab with an emphasis on protein biophysics, and an understanding of how to craft biophysical research questions.
Dr. Linda Columbus
Professor Columbus is interested in understanding membrane biophysics to investigate the structure and dynamics of membrane proteins involved in bacterial pathogenesis.
She is also very passionate about biophysics education, serving on many education committees, and has worked to revamp the UVA General Chemistry Curriculum.
Dr. Tracy Caldwell
Tracy recently graduated from Linda's lab and will be your main mentor for the tutorial starting summer 2020.
Tracy's research focused on the conformational dynamics of the membrane enzyme lipoprotein signal peptidase (LspA) using EPR. She also studied the physical properties of low-q bicelles, which are commonly used as membrane mimetics.
