Ivet Bahar

Address:
Professor and Chair, Department of Computational Biology
School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh
3064 BST3, 3501 Fifth Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15260

Phone: 412-648-3332
Fax: 412-648-3163
Email: bahar@ccbb.pitt.edu
Homepage: Visit

Background:

Research Lab: http://www.ccbb.pitt.edu/research/Bahar_Lab/

PhD, Chemistry, Istanbul Technical University, Turkey, 1986

Present Position
Oct. 2004 – present	Professor and Chair, Dept. of Computational Biology, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh
March 2001 – present	Professor, Dept. of Molecular Genetics & Biochemistry, School of Medicine,University of Pittsburgh
April 2005 – present	Director, Joint Pitt-CMU PhD Program in Computational Biology (CMU Director: Robert Murphy);
Past Positions
March 2001 – Oct. 2004	Founding Director, Center for Computational Biology & Bioinformatics, University of Pittsburgh
1992 – 2000 (summers);	Visiting Scientist, Lab of Experimental and Computational Biology, Divisionof Basic Science, NCI, NIH
1992 – Sept 2000	Director, Polymer Research Center, Bogazici University
1993 – Feb 2001	Professor, Chemical Engineering Department, Bogazici University
1986 – 1987, 87-93	Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Chemical Engineering Dept., Bogazici University
1987 – 1991 (summers);	UNESCO Fellow and Visiting Professor, University of Akron, Institute of Polymer Science
1989 – 1998	Visiting Scientist, Ecole Supérieure de Physique et Chimie (ESPCI);, Lab de Physicochimie Structurale et Macromoléculaire (PCSM);, Paris, France; several short-term visits between.
Honors
2000	European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO); Elected Member
1998	Excellence in Research Award, Bogazici University
1997	Turkish Academy of Sciences, Full Member (Elected);
1995	TUBITAK-TWAS Science Prize
1991	Sedat Simavi Physical Sciences Prize (joint with B. Erman);
1990	Chemistry Award for Young Scientists from TUBITAK

Research:
We are interested in gaining an understanding of the molecular basis of biological function by characterizing the molecular-to-cellular dynamics of biomolecular systems. We use computational and mathematical models of different complexities for simulating dynamic processes at different levels. At the molecular level, we focus on the conformational dynamics of proteins, including folding, domain movements, and/or local fluctuations, and their perturbation by ligand binding. Examples of our work in this area are the structural dynamics of enzyme-inhibitor interactions, the collective motions of viral capsids, or the ribosomal machinery. Direct computational assessment provides information on the collective dynamics of the enzyme and enables a better mechanistic understanding of how the inhibitors work. At the cellular level, we focus on the interactions involved in cell cycle regulation and signaling. We are interested not only in answering specific biological questions, but in developing new, widely applicable theories and computational tools, including in particular those based on network models, for improving our understanding of biomolecular machinery.