Wei Cheng

Postdoctoral researcher in Prof. Carlos Bustamante Laboratory

Dept. of Molecular & Cell Biology

209 Hildebrand Hall

University of California at Berkeley

Berkeley, CA 94720

E-Mail: cheng@alice.berkeley.edu

 

Education:

 

·       1991-1995 B.S., Biophysics, University of Science & Technology of China, graduated one year ahead of normal schedule

·       1996-2002 Ph.D. Molecular Biophysics, Washington University School of Medicine

 

Research:

 

·       B.S. Molecular dynamics simulations of a model ion channel, calculation of electrostatics using a modified finite difference Poisson-Boltzmann method, with Prof. Cunxin Wang and Yunyu Shi.

 

Research Article

 

W. Cheng, C. Wang, W. Chen, Y. Xu & Y. Shi, “Investigating the Dielectric Effects of Channel Pore Water on the Electrostatic Barriers of the Permeation Ion by the Finite Difference Poisson-Boltzmann Method”, Eur. Biophys. J. (1998) 27: 105-112. [Abstract] [PDF]

 

·       Graduate lab rotations: kinetics of DNA helicase binding to single-stranded DNA with Prof. Tim Lohman; computer modeling of the packing of transmembrane a-helices with Prof. Garland Marshall; substrate specificity of human a-thrombin with Prof. Enrico Di Cera.

 

Conference abstracts

 

W. Cheng & E. Di Cera, “Role of P2 Site in Substrate Recognition by Thrombin”, 11th Annual Gibbs Conference on Biothermodynamics, pp. 58, Carbondale, 1997.

 

W. Cheng, D. R. Lowis & G. R. Marshall, “Amino Acid Sidechain Mapping of Transmembrane Helices in Molecular Docking”, The Protein Society 12th Symposium, San Diego, 1998.

 

 

·       Ph.D. Dissertation: Mechanisms of duplex DNA unwinding by E. coli Rep Helicase and a RepD2B mutant, with Prof. Timothy Lohman.

 

Research Article

 

W. Cheng, J. Hsieh, K. M. Brendza & T. M. Lohman, “E. coli Rep Oligomers are Required to Initiate DNA Unwinding in vitro”, J. Mol. Biol. (2001) 310: 327-350. [Abstract] [PDF] [Excerpt from Reviewers’ comment]

 

T. Ha, I. Rasnik, W. Cheng, H. P. Babcock, G. H. Gauss, T. M. Lohman & S. Chu, “Initiation and Re-initiation of DNA Unwinding by the E. coli Rep Helicase”, Nature (2002) 419: 638-641. [Abstract] [PDF] [Supplementary Information]

 

W. Cheng, K. M. Brendza, G. H. Gauss, S. Korolev, G. Waksman & T. M. Lohman, “The 2B Domain of E. coli DNA Helicase Rep is not Required for Duplex DNA Unwinding Activity”, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA. (2002) 99: 16006-16011. [Abstract] [PDF] [Supporting Information] [Excerpt from Reviewers’ comment]

 

I. Rasnik, S. Myong, W. Cheng, T. M. Lohman & T. Ha, "DNA-binding Orientation and Domain Conformation of the E. coli Rep Helicase Monomer bound to a Partial Duplex Junction: Single-molecule Studies of Fluorescently Labeled Enzymes", J. Mol. Biol. (2004) 336: 395-408. [Abstract] [PDF]

 

M.C. Murphy, I. Rasnik, W. Cheng, T.M. Lohman & T. Ha, "Probing single stranded DNA conformational flexibility using fluorescence spectroscopy", Biophys. J. (2004) 86: 2530-2537. [Abstract] [PDF]

 

K. M. Brendza*, W. Cheng*, C. J. Fischer, M. A. Chesnik, A. Niedziela-Majka, and T. M. Lohman, “Auto-inhibition of E. coli Rep Monomer Helicase Activity by its 2B-Subdomain”, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA. (2005) 102: 10076-10081. [Abstract] [PDF] [Supporting Information]*Equal authorship. [Excerpt from Reviewers’ comment]

 

Book Chapter

 

T. M. Lohman, J. Hsieh, N. K. Maluf, W. Cheng, A. L. Lucius, C. J. Fischer, K. M. Brendza, S. Korolev & G. Waksman, “DNA Helicases, Motors that Move Along Nucleic Acids: Lessons from the SF1 Helicase Superfamily”, In THE ENZYMES, 3rd Edition, edited by D. D. Hackney & F. Tamanoi, Volume XXIII, Energy Coupling and Molecular Motors, (2004) 304-364.

 

·       Postdoc. Single-molecule studies of Hepatitis C virus NS3 helicase, with Prof. Carlos Bustamante and in collaboration with Prof. Anna Marie Pyle at Yale University.

 

Research article

 

S. Dumont*, W. Cheng*, V. Serebrov, R. K. Beran, I. Tinoco Jr., A. M. Pyle, & C. Bustamante, “Direct Observation of Substeps Reveals the RNA Translocation and Unwinding Mechanism of HCV NS3 Helicase and its Coordination by ATP”, Nature (2006) 439: 105-108. [Abstract] [PDF] [Supplementary Information] *Equal authorship.

 

Last Updated 01/08/06.