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Positions Vacant
A special postdoctoral position funded by JST for a one year period from
April 2011 till April 2012 is available. A background in experimental
biochemistry/biophysics would be an advantage. If
interested please send a one page c.v. to damienhall@md.tsukuba.ac.jp by
February 15th 2011.
Research Description
My research is concerned with the
biophysical study of important biochemical processes related to disease states.
The three topics studied in my laboratory are
(i.) Amyloid formation and its relationship
to disease.
(ii.) The process of virus
adsorption to the epithelial cell membrane.
(iii.) Protein diffusion in the cell
cytosol and cell membrane.
Projects for students (visiting
undergraduate scholars, M.Sc. or Ph.D. candidates) are available. Please email
me to discuss available projects or alternatively you are welcome to suggest
your own. If you are at the postdoctoral level and you would like to work
together please write to me and we can discuss a number of fellowship options
that I can help you apply for. My laboratory is a good environment for
scientists interested in performing basic research with the emphasis placed on
understanding what you are doing.
Click here to see my research background, my complete publication list, my teaching
duties and a brief CV.
Some Recent Publications
Here are few recent papers that
describe my general research style which should be downloadable if you are
viewing this website from an academic institution. If they are not you can
write to me and I will send you these reprints as a block.
‘Effect
of macromolecular crowding on intracellular diffusion from a single particle
perspective’ Hall, D. and Hoshino, M. 2010, Biophysical Reviews. 2:39-53
– This work outlines some controllable theory suitable for describing
the Brownian motion of a single particle in a cell like environment.
‘Effect
of heterogeneity on the characterization of cell membrane compartments: I.
Uniform size and permeability.’ Hall D. Analytical
Biochemistry. 2010, 398:230-244 – This work is concerned with
how we extract information about long-range structural order existing in the
cell membrane from single particle tracking measurements of diffusion.
‘A model of amyloid's role in disease based on fibril
fracture.’ Hall D. and Edskes
H. Biophysical Chemistry. 2009, 145:17-28 – This work is
concerned with a physical model of the differential cellular toxicity of
various types of amyloid.
‘Kinetic
Models of Biospecific Interactions at
Surfaces’.
Hall, D. (2008). Chapter 4 of ‘Handbook of Surface Plasmon Resonance
Based Biosensors. Royal Society of Chemistry. Eds. A. Tudos and R.B.M. Schasfoort. – This work describes a physical
chemistry perspective of protein adsorption to the cell membrane. (Please write
to me to receive this book chapter as a pdf)
‘Expanding
to fill the gap: a possible role for inert biopolymers in regulating the extent
of the 'macromolecular crowding' effect.’ Hall, D. and Dobson, C.M. FEBS
Letters. 2006, 580:2584-2590. – This paper
is concerned with the ‘macromolecular crowding’ concept first named
as such by Allen P. Minton. Here we describe a new aspect of the macromolecular
crowding concept by showing that reversible regulation of the crowding effect
posits a new method for controlling the folding state and hence enzymatic
activity of other bio-molecules in solution!
Turbidity
as a probe of tubulin polymerization kinetics: a theoretical and experimental
re-examination. Hall D and Minton AP. Analytical
Biochemistry. 2005, 345:198-213. –
This paper deals with how we interpret the turbidimetric
assay used to quantify the microtubule polymerization reaction.