RESEARCH INTERESTS The people in our lab use and develop molecular dynamics, free energy simulation, and trajectory analysis methodologies in applications aimed at better understanding biomolecular structure, dynamics and interactions. A strong focus of our funded efforts centers on the reliable representation of nucleic acid systems (DNA and RNA) in solution. For example, we helped solved the NMR structure of the drug-bound Hepatitis C virus IRES structure shown on the left. Based on this (and related structures), we can now apply CADD methods and simulation to better understand and design potential new Hepatitis C therapeutics. In addition, large efforts are underway to better characterize RNA structure and force fields through simulation of a large number of commonly observed RNA structural motifs and a large variety of NMR and crystal structures.