Physics Colloquium: Computational investigations of SARS-CoV-2 variants and other biomolecules
This is a past event.
Friday, March 17 at 1:00pm
to 2:00pm
PG6 - Tech Station, 112
11200 SW 8th ST 33199, PG6 - Tech Station, Miami, Florida 33199
Prof. Narayan Adhikari (Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Kathmandu Nepal)
Friday, March 17th, 2023
1.00 – 2.00 PM
Venue: PG6 112
Abstract: Recent advancements in computer simulation techniques and their ever-increasing applicability in various fields including physics, chemistry, biology, and medicine have created a unique opportunity of doing science even in the remotest parts of the globe. Nepal, a small landlocked country, has produced a steady stream of researchers for many institutions in the developed world including the US. In this talk, I will provide an overview of physics education in Nepal and present some of the current research activities in the areas of condensed matter physics and biophysics. I will discuss our investigations on the binding mechanisms of the SARS-CoV-2 virus’ spike protein to human receptor (hACE2) protein. This includes the calculation and comparison of binding free energies between different variants such as delta, mu, and omicron. I will also discuss computational investigations of the sequence specificity in methylated DNA binding protein Kaiso.
Short Bio: Dr. Adhikari is a professor of Physics at Tribhuvan University. He obtained his MSc in condensed matter physics at ICTP, Trieste, in 1998, and his Ph.D. in physics from Martin-Luther University, Germany in 2001. Between 2001 to 2005, he worked as a postdoc at Max-Plank, Rensselaer Polytechnic, and Rice University. He specializes in computational condensed matter physics focusing on soft matter and biophysics and has extensively published in this area. He is involved in computational investigations on various topics of biophysics including properties of amino acids, DNA-Protein interaction, and Protein-Protein interactions. He has established a computational physics research lab at Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu Nepal, with research funding from the World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), The Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) Trieste Italy, the University Grants Commission, Nepal, and the Research Division Rector Office, Tribhuvan University, Nepal. His research was featured in the Nature video “Theoretical physics in Nepal” in 2014.
