Laboratory of Molecular & Thermodynamic Modeling
Recently, Dr. Klauda's research is focused on understanding the behavior of cell membranes and how small molecules, such as sugars, cholesterol, and drugs are transported into and out of the cell. This work involves using molecular simulations to study cell membranes at an atomic level. Some of this work began at the National Institutes of Health, where he held his postdoctoral fellowship. Dr. Klauda is currently collaborating with experimental groups to better understand membrane function and dynamics at a molecular level, including Prof. John Nagle (Carnegie Mellon University), Prof. Mary Roberts (Boston College), and Dr. Ron Kaback (UCLA).
Of specific interest is the cause for multi-drug antibiotic resistance in humans and the corresponding protein transport mechanism. Drug transport protein analogs, such as lactose permease, are used as initial models to understand small molecular transport in bacteria. In the future, direct transporters of antibiotics will be studied to help prevent multi-drug resistance or design better drugs.