|
Features: Jan. 14, 2002
Garde Wins NSF CAREER Award
 Shekhar
Garde, assistant professor of chemical engineering, received
a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the
National Science Foundation (NSF). He will use the five-year,
$374,965 grant to develop computer simulation tools for
understanding and modeling how biological molecules self-assemble
in water-based solutions.
| |
Quantitative modeling of water-induced
interactions will be important in developing a host
of biotechnology and pharmaceutical applications, from
designing materials for everyday use, such as novel
laundry detergents, to molecular medicine.
—Shekhar Garde—
|
|
Water plays a critical role in biomolecular
interactions. Quantitative modeling of water-induced interactions
will be important in developing a host of biotechnology
and pharmaceutical applications, from designing materials
for everyday use, such as novel laundry detergents, to molecular
medicine, Garde says.
In part, the NSF grant will help Garde generate
an extensive computerized library of water-induced interactions
between various protein constituents. The purpose is to
develop efficient molecular-level models to study how proteins
and other macromolecules self-assemble under various conditions
in water, such as in extreme pressure or temperatures, or
in the presence of salt and other additives.
The CAREER Award is given to faculty members
at the beginning of their careers and is one of the NSF's
most competitive and prestigious awards. The award places
emphasis on high-quality research and novel education initiatives.
Garde joined the Rensselaer faculty in 1999.
He earned his B.S. in chemical engineering in 1992 from
the University of Bombay and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering
in 1997 from the University of Delaware.
He was awarded the prestigious Director's
Postdoctoral Fellowship by the Los Alamos National Laboratory,
where he performed independent research from 1997 to 1999.
Using molecular simulation and statistical mechanical tools,
his research focuses on understanding, among other things,
how water molecules drive proteins to fold into their unique
three-dimensional structures.
|
