Graduate Student
Clark A. Miller

Education

• B.Sc., Chemical Engineering, Brigham Young University, 2003

Research Interests

• Protein folding
• Protein association
• Interfacial activity

Research Summary

My research focuses on the folding, association and solution behavior of proteins. By examining the molecular interactions in detail we can better design molecules for a particular function. The focus of my studies is beta-peptides, made from non-naturally occuring beta-amino acids. At the first level of understanding we seek to determine the relationship between side chains, solvent interactions, and mechanical stability for beta-peptides helices. At the next level, we discover beta-peptides that interact favorably by determining the free energy of dimer formation and how side chain placement leads to the formation of different large scale assembly in solution. This association becomes important in the formation of liquid-crystalline phases. Finally, we probe the properties of amphiphilic beta-peptides that affect interfacial activity: at air-water and water-lipid interfaces. The activity at interfaces is one property that leads to understanding the antimicrobial behavior of beta-peptides.

Publications

1. Clark A. Miller, Juan P. Hernández-Ortiz, Nicholas L. Abbott, Samuel H. Gellman, and Juan J. de Pablo.
   "Dipole-induced self-assembly of helical beta-peptides".
   Journal of Chemical Physics, submitted, 2008.
2. Clark A. Miller, Nicholas L. Abbott, Samuel H. Gellman, and Juan J. de Pablo.
   "Mechanical stability of helical beta-peptides and a comparison of explicit and implicit solvent models".
   Biophysical Journal, submitted, 2008.
   
3. Ethan A. Mastny, Clark A. Miller, and Juan J. de Pablo.
   "The effect of water/methane interface on methane hdyrate cages: the potential of mean force and cage lifetimes".
   Journal of Chemical Physics, submitted, 2008.
4. Clark A. Miller and Danial A Beard.
   "The effects of reversibility and noise on stochastic phosphorylation cycles and cascades".
   Biophysical Journal, submitted, 2008.
   

Contact

Mr. Clark A. Miller
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
University of Wisconsin-Madison
1112 Engineering Hall
1415 Engineering Drive
Madison, WI 53706-1691
U.S.A.
email: camiller8@wisc.edu
tel: +1 608 262-3370
fax: +1 608 262-5434