Prof. Gerard C. L. Wong
Department of Bioengineering,
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry,
California NanoSystems Institute,
University of California, Los Angeles,
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1600
We are interested in a multi-disciplinary approach to solving problems in biology and biomedicine, combining physics, chemistry, biology, as well as engineering. The group is inherently interdisciplinary; our collaborations include physicists, chemists, materials scientists, biologists, medical doctors, as well as bioengineers.
The group uses a wide range of experimental techniques including, quantitative, ultra-high resolution synchroton x-ray scattering and spectroscopy, x-ray and electron microscopy, massively parallel optical traps, laser-scanning confocal microscopy, and fluorescence and video-enhanced optical microscopy.
General areas of research:
- Antimicrobials and antibiotic-resistant pathogens.
- Ex: Synthetic antimicrobials, endogenous antimicrobials such as defensins and cathelicidins.
- Bacterial biofilms and sociomicrobiology.
- Ex: Signaling, motility, population dynamics, social organization in biofilms.
- Cystic fibrosis.
- Ex: Antimicrobial inactivation in airways, non-stick antimicrobials.
- Apoptosis proteins and cancer therapeutics.
- Ex: Bcl-2 family of mammalian proteins responsible for apoptosis cascade.
- Disinfection and water purification.
- Ex: Water-borne viruses.
- Self-assembly in biology and biotechnology.
- Ex: Drug and gene delivery, cell-penetrating peptides such as HIV TAT, aptamer- and aptazyme-based cancer targeting.
- Physical chemistry of solvation.
- Ex: Inelastic x-ray scattering and femtosecond movies of hydration structure and dynamics at sub-Angstrom resolution.
- Soft condensed matter physics.
- Ex: Polymers, polyelectrolytes, liquid crystals, colloids, nanoparticles.
- Biophysics of DNA, membranes, proteins.
- Ex: Espin-actin self-assembly in stereocilia and relation to deafness.
We are affiliated with:
