Ivet Bahar, Ph.D.
Distinguished Professor and John K. Vries Chair

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Research Summary

Our goal is to understand the mechanisms of function biological systems at multiple scale, from molecular to cellular and systems levels. To this aim (1) we develop novel theoretical and computational models and methods using both fundamental theories and methods of physical sciences and engineering, and advances in machine learning to help understand the dynamics of molecular machines, large complexes and assemblies and biomolecular interactions in the cell; (2) use these approaches to advance knowledge of the molecular basis of protein-protein, -drug, -lipid interactions and their implications on cell signaling, regulation, and evolution, and to identify pharmacological targets for modulating or altering these mechanisms; (3) focus on neurotransmitter transport events in the central nervous system, including in particular dopaminergic and glutamatergic signaling, toward elucidating the molecular mechanisms of signaling and regulation, as well as drug addiction development and neurological disorders; (4) analyze the networks of interactions at multiple levels, from individual molecules to gene loci in the chromatin, to multiple proteins in cellular networks, using engineering tools and concepts of chemical reaction kinetics, transport phenomena, statistical mechanics, and stochastics theory, and identify key nodes/targets that dominate the observed behavior; (5) translate our knowledge from molecular-to-cellular computations and/or theoretical modeling to biomedical, clinical and pharmacological applications; and (6) enable the effective dissemination of our tools and training of a new generation of scientists to efficiently use cutting edge methods of physical sciences, engineering and machine learning to advance research and technology development in life sciences.

Recent Publications

Chen F, Shi Q, Pei F, Vogt A, Porritt RA, Garcia G, Gomez AC, Cheng MH, Schurdak ME, Chan SY, Arumugaswami V, Stern AM, Taylor DL, Arditi M, Bahar I. (2021) A Systems-level Study Reveals Host-targeted Repurposable Drugs Against SARS-CoV2 Infection. Molecular Systems Biol [Online ahead of print]. PMID: 34339582

Cheng MH, Bahar I. (2019) Monoamine transporters: structure, intrinsic dynamics and allosteric regulation. Nat Struct. & Molec. Biol 26: 545–556. PMID: 31270469 PMCID: 6712983

Zhang S, Li H, Krieger JM, Bahar I. (2019) Shared signature dynamics tempered by local fluctuations enables fold adaptability and specificity. Mol Biol Evol 36: 2053-2068. PMID: 31028708 PMCID: 6736388

Ponzoni L, Bahar I. (2018) Structural dynamics is a determinant of the functional significance of missense variants. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 115: 4164-4169. PMID: 29610305 PMCID: 5910821

Publications

Grants

Current/Recent Projects