Stephanie Sauve

I’m a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Cell & Molecular Biology program at the University of Arkansas, where I work in Dr. Mahmoud Moradi’s Biomolecular Simulations Lab. My research leverages all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to explore the structural dynamics and conformational transition pathways of biomedically relevant proteins. My scientific journey began with a B.S. in Biochemistry from St. Lawrence University, where I was awarded the Clare Boothe Luce Research Fellowship to investigate the thermal and chemical stability of a cyan fluorescent protein. The early exposure to structure-function relationships during my undergraduate education still drives my curiosity today.

Currently, my work focuses on characterizing conformational transition pathways and construction of free energy landscapes for complex systems such as the HIV-1 envelope (Env) glycoprotein. For my main project, I am also working on integrating computational and experimental techniques through the joining of single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer (smFRET) and MD simulations. In addition to working on HIV-1 Env, I am interested in the ACE2 receptor, the HIV-1 capsid protein, the Thrombin protein, and major facilitator superfamily (MFS) transporters. Furthermore, I am interested in applying physics-based methods to calculate binding affinities with applications such as antibody-antigen binding.