Columbus, Linda
Primary Appointment
Professor, Chemistry
Education
- BA, Chemistry, Smith College
- PhD, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of California Los Angeles
Contact Information
PO Box 400319
Charlottesville, VA 22904
Telephone: 3-2123
Email: lc4zs@virginia.edu
Website: http://www.columbuslabs.org/
Research Disciplines
Biochemistry, Biophysics, Biotechnology, Chemistry, Infectious Diseases/Biodefense, Structural Biology
Research Interests
Biophysical Chemistry: Membrane protein structure, function, and dynamics
Research Description
Membrane proteins facilitate the transfer of information across lipid bilayers, comprise approximately 25% of a typical proteome, and represent over half of all drug targets. The membrane proteins that mediate interactions between bacterial pathogens and hosts are of particular interest to our laboratory. Invasive bacterial pathogens are responsible for many lethal diseases and epidemics, including plague and meningitis. Although these bacteria have diverse mechanisms of cellular invasion, all of the pathways rely upon interactions between host and bacterial membrane proteins.
Our lab seeks to determine the structure and dynamics of membrane proteins involved in bacterial pathogenesis and to develop tools to accelerate membrane protein structure determination using a combination of site-directed spin labeling (SDSL), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, and X-ray crystallography.