Gao Named To NIH Study Section On Biophysics

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Jiali Gao, Ph.D., a UB professor of chemistry, has been appointed to a four-year term on the Molecular and Cellular Biophysics Study Section of the Center for Scientific Review of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Study sections recommend funding of grant proposals submitted by scientists.

Members are appointed to study sections based on their competence, significant professional activities, honors and achievements within their fields of expertise.

Gao's research is concerned with computational chemistry, and ultimately could lead to the design of new drug compounds.

He currently is an investigator on grants totaling $1.5 million.

Gao's areas of expertise include the development and application of theoretical and computational methods in chemistry, and computer simulation of liquids, solutions and biopolymers using empirical and combined quantum mechanical and classical potentials.

He is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Molecular Graphics and Modeling and advisory editor of the publication Theoretical Chemistry Accounts.

Gao also serves as a reviewer for more than 20 professional and scientific publications and is a member of numerous professional organizations and NIH and National Science Foundation committees.

He received a bachelor's degree from Beijing University and a doctorate from Purdue University. In addition, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University before joining the UB Department of Chemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences in 1990.

Gao lives in Getzville.