Aleksei Aksimentiev

Aleksei Aksimentiev

John Bardeen Faculty Scholar, Physics

Areas of Research

Biomarkers, Cell Biology, Cellular Function, Computational Science, DNA, Genes, Genomics, Molecular Biology, Nanoparticles, Nanotechnology, Nucleic Acid Nanoparticles, Physics, RNA

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

Campus Affiliations

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