Profile
David Jacobson
Chemistry
Assistant Professor
Hunter Hall 157 [Lab]
Hunter Hall 373 [Office]
Hunter Hall 436 [Lab]
Hunter Hall 443 [Lab]
Educational Background
B.A., Biochemistry & Physics, University of Pennsylvania, 2011
Ph.D., Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2016
Profile/About Me
David received his B.A. in physics and biochemistry from the University of Pennsylvania and completed his Ph.D. in physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, under Prof. Omar Saleh. As a postdoc, he developed single-molecule methods for measuring membrane-protein energetics under Prof. Tom Perkins at JILA. At Clemson, he is excited to build a lab focused on applying those single-molecule methods to studies of membrane proteins of biological and biomedical interest.
Research Interests
Proteins embedded in the cell membrane are key to many biological processes and are the targets of many drugs because they contact both the cytoplasm and the extracellular environment. Understanding how membrane proteins adopt correctly folded structures, and how those structures are perturbed by ligand binding and disease-causing mutations, requires the ability to measure the energetics of the interactions holding them together. Traditional biochemical approaches, however, are limited in biological interpretability and in what proteins can be studied.
Building on my postdoctoral work with Tom Perkins at JILA, our lab is interested in using precise forces applied by atomic force microscopy (AFM) to reversibly unfold and refold small segments of membrane proteins to make thermodynamically well-defined measurements of their energetics as a function of biologically relevant parameters such as ligand concentration, introduction of mutations, and lipid environment.
Courses Taught
Introduction to Physical Chemistry (CH 3300)
Physical Chemistry II (CH 3320)
Special Topics: Scanning Probe Microscopy (CH 9300)
Honors and Awards
NIH K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award, 2021-Present
APS DBIO Award for Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Research in Biological Physics, 2017
NIST NRC Postdoctoral Research Associateship, 2017-2019
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, 2013-2016
Chair's Award, Biochemistry Program, University of Pennsylvania, 2011
Roy and Diana Vagelos Molecular Life Science Program, University of Pennsylvania, 2007-2011
