Nucleic acid Structure and Recognition - L.J. Maher

About Student Research

Phil Hardwidge (1998–2002)

New methods and studies of DNA intrinsic curvature and protein-induced DNA bending by electrostatic effects

Though his long-term interests remained in microbiology and infectious disease, Phil Hardwidge came to Mayo from the University of Illinois- Champaign/Urbana to explore biophysics using DNA/protein interactions as a research area. Phil's Ph.D. thesis research included projects related to improved quantitative electrophoretic and spectroscopic assays of intrinsic DNA curvature. He devised new methods to study DNA bending induced by purified proteins and variants of these proteins with altered charge.