Witold Witkowski Ph.D.

I enjoy long random walks down an energy landscape, and of course jumping in and out of local minima.  I don't enjoy heat shocks nor freezing and thawing, but I will behave quite well if I'm given something to calm me down before I'm dunked in LN2.  I like to organize, so stick me and a few billion of my closest neighbors in front of a bright high energy light source, and we'll slap and deflect those photons and show them who's boss.  But whatever you do, don't leave me alone in solution for extended periods of time, as I get bored, and tend to chew on things.  

My doctoral research focused on allosteric and direct control by small drug-like molecules of the apoptotic protein caspase-7 through a multidiscipline approach which spans biochemistry, molecular biology, and computer science. The goal of this research is to develop new methods for controlling caspase-7 that can be directly applied to clinical and pharmaceutical research.

Techniques employed range from cloning and protein expression, DNA manipulation, PCR amplification and computational protein redesign, to analytical methods such as x-ray crystallography, analytical ultracentrifugation, mass spectrometry and fluorescence spectroscopy.

Currently, I am seeking a scientist position in the Boston area.