Computational Chemistry: Molecular recognition in biological systems

YINGKAI ZHANG

Research Description
We are interested in the development and application of cutting-edge computational and theoretical methods to understand the inner workings of important biological processes. Due to the complexity of biomolecular systems, the computational methods that we develop and utilize are multiscale in nature, ranging from electronic level description of crucial chemical bonds to coarse-grained approaches for large scale motions and interactions. For the methodology development, we focus on ab initio QM/MM methods, efficient sampling approaches and multiscale simulation methods. For biomolecular simulations, we are currently interested in investigating enzyme mechanism, catalysis and regulation; histone modifications and recognition; and membrane enzymes.