Gary Pielak
Kenan Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Biophysics; Jointly appointed with the School of Medicine
Genome Sciences Building 3250919-962-4495
gary_pielak@unc.edu
Group Website
Curriculum Vitae
Research Interests
Protein Biophysics Emphasizing Studies in Living Cells
Research Synopsis
My graduate students and I work in two areas:
High-resolution protein NMR studies in living cells.
Biophysics of tardigrade dessication-tolerance proteins.
Professional Background
BS Chem., Bradley U, 1977; PhD Biochemistry, with J. Ivan Legg, Washington State U, 1983; Postdoc with Michael Smith, U British Columbia, 1983-1986; Postdoc with Robert JP Williams, Oxford. 1986-1988; DuPont Young Faculty Award; Morrow Young Faculty Award; NIH Pioneer Award; National Science Foundation Program Director; UNC Lifetime Mentor Award; UNC Medical School Excellence in Basic Science Mentoring Award
Research Group
News & Publications
Here, I discuss some of the background regarding the genesis of “Good’s buffers”, make a few (disparaging) observations about the non-Good’s buffer, Tris, and suggest that we synthesize new buffers by combining the ideas of Good et al. with results from the past 60 years of protein chemistry.
Here, we apply LOVE NMR, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and solution hydrogen–deuterium exchange to globular proteins GB1, CI2, and two variants thereof to link mutation-induced changes in the dehydrated protein structure to changes in solution structure and stability.