Welcome!

Welcome to the Molecular Biophysics Training Program website.  The training program is funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) of the National Institutes of Health (5T32 GM008382).  The program serves as a hub for all research and training activities in biophysics at Northwestern.  Please contact us if you have any questions about the program.

NIH Training Grant

NIGMS supports biomedical and behavioral research training programs that help provide the most critical element of good research: well-prepared scientists. Institutional and individual training, fellowship, and career development grants fund graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, clinician scientists, and scientists transitioning to independence. Programs cover basic biomedical research areas, some clinically related areas, and training at the interfaces of different fields. more

Research Spotlight

Topoisomerases are enzymes that remove topological constraints in double-stranded DNA introduced by processes such as replication, recombination and transcription.  The mechanism of action of Topoisomerase V, a new topoisomerase unrelated to other topoisomerases, has remained unknown.  The Mondragon and Marko groups now show via single-molecule experiments that Topoisomerase V employs a similar mechanism as type IB topoisomerases, but using a completely different structural framework. more