Osamu Miyashita

Member status:: Affiliate Member
Department:: Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics
Profile page:: http://www.biochem.arizona.edu/dept/ppl/Profiles/miyashita.htm
Email:: mystosm [at] u.arizona.edu
Research areas of interest:: My research interests have been centered on the role of conformational dynamics of biological molecules on their functions. Main information for understanding the mechanism of biological molecules is the atomic structures obtained from X-ray crystallography. From the structure, we can learn what elements are necessary for the functions. However, the structure is a static picture and it cannot explain how the biological molecules perform their functions. If we could see and observe how the molecules are moving, how it would be very helpful to understand its mechanism. This is why we use computer simulations. Using computers, we can simulate how the molecules are actually moving. However, even with the most powerful computer, it is difficult to simulate the entire event of the functions. Moreover, the biological molecules are not working in deterministic way as our macro machines do. Since the biological molecules are so small, they are working in the thermal fluctuations, i.e. under (or using) the noise from solvent or other biological molecules, we need to describe the biological event in statistical manner. In my researches, I aim to develop theoretical frameworks to describe the biological functions in terms of statistical physics, and use computational approach to simulate the real biological systems.