Research Program and Theme
Cancer Technology and Data Science | Molecular Measurement
Research Focus
Aksimentiev studies the organization of DNA in cells to establish cancer’s molecular origins and drug resistance. His work connects atomic-scale structures of DNA and nucleosomes and their modification to drug resistance by characterizing the microscopic processes leading to genome changes. He uses all-atom and coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations to describe the mechanics of DNA, DNA binding to histone proteins in a nucleosome, and the self-association of distance DNA fragments mediated by physical forces. View his research group’s website for more information.
Education
- Ph.D., Chemistry, Institute of Physical Chemistry Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland, 1999
- Postdoctoral Training, Mitsui Chemicals, Tokyo, Japan, 1999-2001
Campus Affiliations
- Professor, Physics
- Professor, National Center for Supercomputing Applications
- Affiliate, Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology
- Professor, Bioengineering
- Professor, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
Select Honors and Recognitions
- IBM Faculty Fellow Award, 2008
- Beckman Fellow, Center for Advanced Studies, 2009-2010
- NSF CAREER Award, 2010
- Blue Waters Professorship, 2014
- Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research, 2015