Division: Physical Chemistry Specialty: Phone: 502-852-6798 Email: george.pack@louisville.edu

1968 B.S.   Providence College
1973 Ph.D. State University of New York at Buffalo

Our group is interested in theoretical and computational biophysical chemistry. We have been developing and applying computational methods to the study of the properties of DNA. Electrostatic forces are particularly important in determining nucleic acid structure and function and the application of the Poisson-Boltzmann equation and Monte Carlo techniques have allowed us to describe the distribution of monovalent and divalent electrolyte ions around these polyelectrolytes. Recently, we have examined the mechanism by which DNA enhances the acid catalysis of small molecules and described the proton equilibria in the grooves of DNA. Along with these applications, we have been developing better theoretical descriptions of the dielectric properties of the DNA-electrolyte systems in order to increase the accuracy of computational approaches. Current efforts are directed toward understanding metal-catalyzed splicing of DNA strands.

Calculation of the Free Energy for Magnesium-RNA Interactons
Petrov, A. S., Lamm, G. and Pack, G. R.
Biopolymers 2005, 77, 137-154

Necessity of Aromatic Carboxylate Anions to be Planar to Induce Growth of Cationic Micelles
Ratikin, A. R. and Pack, G. R.
Langmuir 2005, 21 837-840

The Triplex-Hairpin Transition in Cytosine-Rich DNA
Petrov, A. S., Lamm, G. and Pack, G. R.
Biophys. J. 2004, 87, 3954-3973

Induced Coalescence of Cations Through Low-Temperature Poisson-Boltzmann Calculations
Lamm, G. and Pack, G. R.
Biophys J. 2004, 87, 764-767

Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Ionic Interactions with Dodecyl Sulfate Micelles
Rakitin, A. R. and Pack, G.R.
J. Phys. Chem B 2004, 108, 2712-2716

Calculations of Magnesium-Nucleic Acid Site Binding in Solution
Petrov, A., Pack, G. R. and Lamm, G.
 J. Phys. Chem B 2004, 108 , 6072-6081