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Linda  Columbus
Degree(s): Ph.D.
Graduate School: University of California, Los Angeles
Primary Appointment: Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Research Interests:
Biophysical Chemistry: Membrane protein structure, function, and dynamics

Email Address: lc4zs@virginia.edu
Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program(s)
  • Structural, Computational Biology and Biophysics
    • Research Description

    Biophysical Chemistry: Membrane protein structure, function, and dynamics

    Membrane proteins facilitate the transfer of information across lipid bilayers, comprise approximately 25% of a typical proteome, and represent over half of all drug targets. The membrane proteins that mediate interactions between bacterial pathogens and hosts are of particular interest to our laboratory. Invasive bacterial pathogens are responsible for many lethal diseases and epidemics, including plague and meningitis. Although these bacteria have diverse mechanisms of cellular invasion, all of the pathways rely upon interactions between host and bacterial membrane proteins.

    Our lab seeks to determine the structure and dynamics of membrane proteins involved in bacterial pathogenesis and to develop tools to accelerate membrane protein structure determination using a combination of site-directed spin labeling (SDSL), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, and X-ray crystallography.

    Selected Publications
  • Columbus L, Lipfert J, Jambunathan K, Fox DA, Sim AY, Doniach S, Lesley SA. Mixing and Matching Detergents for Membrane Protein NMR Structure Determination. J Am Chem Soc. 2009 May 8. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 19425578.
  • Lipfert J, Columbus L, Chu V, Doniach S. Analysis of small-angle X-ray scattering data of protein-detergent complexes with singular value decomposition.Journal of Applied Crystallography 40: S235-S239 (2007)
  • Columbus L, Lipfert J, Klock H, Millet I, Doniach S, Lesley SA. Expression, purification, and characterization of Thermotoga maritima membrane proteins for structure determination. Protein Science 15: 961-975 (2006)
  • Columbus L, Peti W, Herrmann T, Etezady T, Wüthrich K. NMR structure determination of the conserved hypothetical protein TM1816 from Thermotoga maritima. Proteins: Structure, Function and Bioinformatics 60: 552-557 (2005)
  • PubMed Listing for this Faculty Member
    • Intranet Profile
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    Contact Information
      Office Address: PO Box 400319, Department of Chemistry, 
      Office Phone: +1 434-243-2123
      Fax Phone: +1 434-924-3567
      Web Site: http://www.columbuslabs.org/

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