John Tainer

BIOGRAPHY

ACADEMIC POSITION:
• Professor at the Scripps Research Institute, a Member of the Skaggs Institute of Chemical Biology
• Director of the SIBLYS Synchrotron beamline at the Advanced Light Source
• Senior Scientist at the Life Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab

RESEARCH INTERESTS:
John Tainer designed, developed, and directs the combined small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and macromolecular X-ray crystallography (MX) synchrotron beamline SIBYLS (Structurally Integrated BiologY for Life Sciences) at the Advanced Light Source in Berkeley, CA. SIBLYS aims to determine accurate structures, conformations and assemblies both in solution and at high resolution (see http://bl1231.als.lbl.gov/).

Dr Tainer has several patents and has invented software for structural analyses. He is the author of over 250 scientific publications on the structural biology of infectious disease, reactive oxygen control, metalloenzymes, DNA damage responses, and microbial complexes. As part of his research, he has determined and deposited over 300 structures in the Protein Data Bank for researchers world-wide. The Tainer lab currently focuses on two general areas: 1) macromolecular structure and design projects relevant to human disease and advanced biotechnology including DNA damage responses, reactive oxygen control, pathogenesis, biofuels, carbon capture, and dynamic molecular machines; and 2) advanced technology development and implementation to provide insights on dynamic macromolecular conformations, interactions, and assemblies.

His major personal efforts concern the combination of crystallographic and SAXS technologies for informative structures on flexible macromolecular machines. Overall, the Tainer group aims to bridge the gaps from molecular structure to quantitative, predictive cell biology to help provide useful applications to therapeutics and biotechnology.

HOME PAGE
http://www.scripps.edu/~jat/