Bioenergetics: Open Access

Eric J Sorin

Eric J Sorin
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
California State University, USA

Biography

Professor Eric J. Sorin worked as an ornamental glass blower for several years, married, and had three beautiful children before beginning his college career. He completed dual A.A. Liberal Arts/A.S. Mathematics & Science degrees from Victor Valley College before earning a B.S. in Chemistry/Chemical Physics at U.C. Riverside, where he pursued research in FTIR and Raman spectroscopy and microscopy. He completed his Ph.D. in Chemistry/Chemical Physics at Stanford University, where he was first introduced to computational chemistry and biophysics, and became one of the original members of the Folding@Home team, authoring and co-authoring 12 articles, 2 review papers, and a book chapter in the areas of protein and RNA folding. After completing his graduate work, Dr. Sorin accepted a faculty position at the California State University at Long Beach, where he enjoys teaching physical chemistry and engaging students in a broad array of research activities.   

Research Interest

Protein & RNA folding and misfolding. Disease-related sequence mutations and structural stability of the collagen triple helix. Simplified models to study the assembly of large biomolecular systems Fast dynamics in small peptides and oligonucleotides in thermodynamic equilibrium. Effects of physical confinement and solvation on biopolymer structure and stability.     Molecular modeling of lipid membranes. Quantitative assessment and refinement of contemporary membrane models. Integration of lipid moieties and small molecules to model physiological biomembranes. Dynamics of membrane-bound and membrane-binding biopolymers. Enzyme inhibition & drug binding. Computational screening of drug candidates to inhibit Alzheimer’s related enzymes. The thermodynamics and dynamics of enzyme inhibition and drug binding Thermodynamic changes upon sequence mutation in proteins. Simulation methodology. Ensemble equilibrium assessment & improvement of biophysical potential sets. Assessment and improvement of water models in various biophysical environments. Polarizable biopolymer and solvents models, and implicit solvation methods.