Kolomeisky named fellow of American Physical Society

Anatoly Kolomeisky

Anatoly Kolomeisky, a professor of chemistry and of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Rice University, has been named a fellow of the American Physical Society.

The honor is in recognition of Kolomeisky’s “major advances in the field of theoretical biophysics by fundamental contributions to the understanding of the mechanisms of motor proteins, cytoskeleton dynamics, protein nucleation, channel transport and protein-DNA interactions.”

In recent years, Kolomeisky’s group has analyzed the motions of cellular workhorses known as motor proteins, detailed the dynamic instability of microtubules in cells and modeled the microscopic rotors that may be key to future nanomachines. He recently published a textbook, for undergraduate and graduate students, Motor Proteins and Molecular Motors, geared toward providing a common language for multidisciplinary scientists whose work touches on theoretical biophysics.

The American Physical Society collaborates with physicists and national scientific societies for the advancement of science, education and the science community. The society elects no more than one half of 1 percent of its membership to the fellowship every year.