Chen Li, a Ph.D. candidate in chemistry working with Assistant Professor David Minh, was selected as a “CBSB2017 Outstanding Young Researcher” for the workshop “From Computational Biophysics to Systems Biology (CBSB2017)” at the University of Cincinnati, May 18-20. The award comes with free registration, a travel stipend, and the opportunity to give a talk. Li will speak about a new method that predicts how the binding of small molecules affects a protein’s conformational equilibria.
Biology encompasses events on the a vast range of length scales, incorporating nanoscale machines and entire organisms, and time scales, ranging from femtosecond atomic fluctuations to years of life. The CBSB conference aims to connect computational research done at the level of proteins and of biological networks in cells. Protein conformational equilibria, the area of Li’s research, influence how proteins pass messages in biological networks.
Ph.D student Bing Xie and Senior Research Associate Trung Hai Nguyen were also given fellowships to present posters. Minh is also scheduled to speak at the conference. He plans to provide a brief overview of his group’s research that is germane to the conference.