Biophysical Newsletter - January 2014

2

2014

Biophysical Society Newsletter

january

Biophysical Society

Biophysicist in Profile Sandrasegaram Gnanakaran

Officers President Francisco Bezanilla President-Elect Dorothy Beckett Past-President Jane Richardson Secretary Lukas Tamm Treasurer Paul Axelsen Council Karen Fleming Taekjip Ha Amy Harkins Samantha Harris Peter Hinterdorfer Juliette Lecomte Amy Lee Marcia Levitus Marjorie Longo Merritt Maduke Daniel Minor, Jr. Jeanne Nerbonne Gail Robertson Claudia Veigel Antoine van Oijen Bonnie Wallace David Yue Biophysical Journal Leslie Loew Editor-in-Chief

Sandrasegaram Gnanakaran , known to his friends and colleagues as “Gnana,” learned independence early. When only eleven years of age, he left his family and the rural Sri Lanka town where he grew up to attend a prestigious school in the capital city of Colombo. With his father serving as a senior official in the Ministry of Education, Gnana grew up understanding the value of a good education. Science, however, was not the field he envisioned himself pursuing. “Had I remained in my country of birth,” he says, “I would probably have pursued a professional career like engineering or medicine.” Staying close to home was no longer an option when Sri Lanka’s violent civil war broke out when Gnana was in high school in Colombo. During the riots in July 1983, one of his classmates was killed, and Gnana nearly lost his life as well. The

family home was burned, and Gnana spent several days in hiding before ending up in a refugee camp. It was not long until his family sent him to the US to continue his educa- tion in a more stable environment. After moving to the US, Gnana enrolled as an under- graduate at Virginia Commonwealth University, and it was during his time there that he first took an interest in scientific research. In particular, an independent research course under the direction of Sarah Rutan spurred his deci- sion to pursue graduate studies in computer science and chemistry. Gnana enrolled in a PhD program in physical

“ As I have started studying more biophysical problems,

I realize that no single approach is enough to solve a problem ” – Sandrasegaram Gnanakaran

chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied energy transfer and relaxation of vibrationally excited molecules in different solvents under the mentorship of Robin Hochstrasser . During his time in Hochstrasser’s lab studying protein dynamics using IR spectroscopy, Gnana says, “I became interested in research problems at the interface of biological and physical sciences.” Working with Hochstrasser taught Gnana the value of tackling a scientific problem from many different angles. Gnana has carried this multi- pronged approach with him throughout his scientific career. Gnana continued in Hochstrasser’s lab as a postdoc, during which time, he says, “I was involved in the theoretical interpretation of new 2D-IR spectros- copy that was started around that time in his group. I used molecular dynam- ics simulations to deduce conformations of peptides in conjunction with 2D- IR.” This work strengthened Gnana’s interest in biophysics, and specifically sparked his curiosity about protein folding. He wanted to learn more about computational approaches to study protein folding, so he was excited to hear that Angel Garcia was looking for a postdoc. Gnana approached Garcia at the Biophysical Society Annual Meeting, and soon began work in Garcia’s group at the Los Alamos National Labs (LANL). Coming from an experimental lab, Gnana had much to learn about the theoretical approaches to studying protein dynamics, folding, and misfolding. Thankfully, Garcia was an excellent mentor. “He had a vision of how com-

Society Office Ro Kampman Executive Officer

Newsletter Alisha Yocum Monika Zakrzewska Production Laura Phelan Profile

Ellen Weiss Public Affairs

The Biophysical Society Newsletter (ISSN 0006-3495) is published twelve times per year, January- December, by the Biophysical Society, 11400 Rockville Pike, Suite 800, Rockville, Maryland 20852. Distributed to USA members and other countries at no cost. Canadian GST No. 898477062. Postmaster: Send address changes to Biophysical Society, 11400 Rockville Pike, Suite 800, Rockville, MD 20852. Copyright © 2014 by the Biophysical Society. Printed in the United States of America. All rights reserved.

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