Peter Husen

Research: I work on multiscale studies of molecular processes in metabolic enzymes, including the cytochrome bc1 protein complex, which is responsible for transport of electric charge across a cellular membrane as part of both the photosynthetic and respiratory pathways, and the ETF enzyme involved in fatty acid metabolisms. These enzymes serve vital energy transduction functions in the cell, but are also possible sources of harmful reactive oxgen species (ROS), such as superoxide. I apply a combination of molecular dynamics simulations with quantum chemical calculations to model electron and proton transfer processes within the complex, which could lead to superoxide production, and to model binding of ligand molecules, such as drugs, which could interfere with the function of the enzymes.

Development: I also take part in development of the scandinaVIan KIt for nanoscale modelinG (VIKING), which is a software toolkit tailored for addressing biomedical research problems using multiscale computational modeling techniques.