Chemical and Biological Engineering Professor Cameron Abrams is a recent recipient of the 2015 Computational Molecular Science and Engineering Forum (CoMSEF) Impact Award which, according to the official website, “recognizes outstanding research in computational molecular science and engineering, encompassing both methods and applications.”
Abrams received this award for his research titled, “For the development and application of enhanced sampling and free-energy methods for elucidating ther-modynamics and kinetics of protein conformational changes and ligand interactions.” This research focuses on computer simulation, which is one way scientists try to understand the nature of matter and in particular the way molecules interact with each other to form larger structures, including living organisms. Abrams is a specialist in molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of molecules that form the building blocks of life: proteins and lipids. A major challenge in such simulations is that number of atoms needed to specify any typical protein system can be many hundreds of thousands to millions and that they need to be simulated for very long times to see something interesting happen; binding of a drug molecule, for instance. This drives the broad need for advanced simulation methods that overcome limitations in time and length scales imposed by current (and foreseeable) computer resources and allow us to more deeply understand how these complicated molecules interact with each other. Abrams has been an active developer of cutting-edge simulation methodogies to meet this need for several years, and the COMSEF Impact Award recognizes his achievements in this area.
Abrams has been on the faculty at Drexel University since 2002 after completing a postdoctoral appointment at Max-Planck-Institute for Poly-mer Research, Mainz, Germany, Ph.D. at University of California, Berkeley and his bachelor’s at North Carolina State University. Abrams research interest include: Molecular Simulations in Biophysics and Materials, HIV-1 Envelope Structure and Function, and Protein-Ligand Binding Thermodynamics and Kinetics. Abrams will receive his award during the CoMSEF Plenary Session at the 2015 AIChE Annual Meeting, where he will also give a talk describing his research. The CoMSEF Impact Award consists of a plaque and honorarium, and is given annually to a CoMSEF member who is within 15 years of completion of their highest degree.
For more information on the CoMSEF Impact Award, please visit the official website by clicking here.