Skip to content
Merged
Changes from all commits
Commits
File filter

Filter by extension

Filter by extension

Conversations
Failed to load comments.
Loading
Jump to
Jump to file
Failed to load files.
Loading
Diff view
Diff view
6 changes: 3 additions & 3 deletions _posts/2025-07-15-ugm2025-updates.md
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -9,13 +9,13 @@ We’re excited to share updates for the upcoming [2025 MDAnalysis User Group Me

### Dr. Lillian Chong

<img src="/public/images/UGM 2025 Speaker - Chong.png" alt="Dr. Lillian Chong, Professor, University of Pittsburgh. Prof. Chong's research focuses on developing and applying advanced simulation methods to investigate rare but biologically important events, with an emphasis on capturing rigorous kinetics. Her group leads the development of the open-source WESTPA software, which implements weighted ensemble path sampling strategies for efficient simulation of rare events. She also works on the development of implicitly polarized force fields and rational design of protein conformational switches." style="float:left; " />
<img src="/public/images/UGM 2025 Speaker Announcement Cards - Chong.png" alt="Dr. Lillian Chong, Professor, University of Pittsburgh. Prof. Chong's research focuses on developing and applying advanced simulation methods to investigate rare but biologically important events, with an emphasis on capturing rigorous kinetics. Her group leads the development of the open-source WESTPA software, which implements weighted ensemble path sampling strategies for efficient simulation of rare events. She also works on the development of implicitly polarized force fields and rational design of protein conformational switches." style="float:left; " />

Dr. Lillian Chong, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh, leads the [Chong Lab](https://chonglab-pitt.github.io), where her team develops cutting-edge tools at the interface of chemistry, physics, and biology to investicate biomolecular dynamics and function. Her research group pioneered using weighted ensemble (WE) simulation techniques to study rare events, such as laarg-scale conformational changes and protein-protein binding, and for creating implicitly polarized AMBER force fields. Her work garned the [2020 Gordon Bell Special Prize](https://chonglab-pitt.github.io/gordon_bell_prize/) for high-performance computing in COVID-19 research leveraging analyses that would otherwise take years but were achieved in weeks using WE and [WESTPA](https://westpa.github.io/westpa/), an open-source software for weighted ensemble path sampling.
Dr. Lillian Chong, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh, leads the [Chong Lab](https://chonglab-pitt.github.io), where her team develops cutting-edge tools at the interface of chemistry, physics, and biology to investicate biomolecular dynamics and function. Her research group pioneered using weighted ensemble (WE) simulation techniques to study rare events, such as large-scale conformational changes and protein-protein binding, and for creating implicitly polarized AMBER force fields. Her work garned the [2020 Gordon Bell Special Prize](https://chonglab-pitt.github.io/gordon_bell_prize/) for high-performance computing in COVID-19 research leveraging analyses that would otherwise take years but were achieved in weeks using WE and [WESTPA](https://westpa.github.io/westpa/), an open-source software for weighted ensemble path sampling.

### Dr. Matthias Heyden

<img src="/public/images/UGM 2025 Speaker - Heyden.png" alt="Dr. Matthias Heyden, Associate Professor, Arizona State University. Prof. Heyden's research group studies the dynamics and function of biomolecules with molecular simulations and Monte Carlo simulations. A special interest of his is anharmonic low-frequency vibrations, which are easily excitable by molecular collisions and can exhibit large deviations from harmonic approximations." style="float:left; " />
<img src="/public/images/UGM 2025 Speaker Announcement Cards - Heyden.png" alt="Dr. Matthias Heyden, Associate Professor, Arizona State University. Prof. Heyden's research group studies the dynamics and function of biomolecules with molecular simulations and Monte Carlo simulations. A special interest of his is anharmonic low-frequency vibrations, which are easily excitable by molecular collisions and can exhibit large deviations from harmonic approximations." style="float:left; " />

The second keynote, [Dr. Matthias Heyden](https://www.compmolsci.com/) from Arizona State University's School of Molecular Sciences, brings expertise in modeling solvation dynamics and vibrational energy transport in crowded biomolecular environments. His research integrates realistic atomistic simulations to illuminate solute-solvent interactions and energy transfer. His group has contributed to the development of interactive molecular dynamics (IMD) workflows through tools like [IMDClient](https://imdclient.readthedocs.io/en/latest/), enabling real-time streaming and manipulation of molecular trajectories. These capabilities, also showcased in the [MDAnalysis IMD workshop materials](https://github.com/MDAnalysis/imd-workshop-2024), open new avenues for exploring simulations dynamically and interactively. This work enhances our understanding of biochemical processes in realistic settings, informing both simulation methodology and experimental interpretation.

Expand Down
Loading