J.B. Alexander (Sandy) Ross joined the University of Montana Chemistry Department in 2001 as Professor and Director of the Core Spectroscopy Facility for Structural Biology. Previously, he was Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Co-Director of the Biophysics, Structural Biology, and Biomathematics Training Program at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. Sandy earned his Ph.D. at the University of Washington in 1976 under the joint supervision of D.A. Deranleau and D.C. Teller. He carried out postdoctoral research with A.L. Kwiram at the University of Washington, L. Brand at The Johns Hopkins University, and P.H. Petra at the University of Washington. He has served as Visiting Professor at the University of Parma, Italy, and as Visiting Scientist at the National Synchrotron Light Source at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Sandy Ross is a physical biochemist specializing in time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy. He teaches physical biochemistry and general biochemistry.

_______________________________________________________________
INTERESTS OF THE ROSS LABORATORY

Our general interest is how the shape and conformational states of biological molecules are linked to their function. We use time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy, complemented by other physical methods, such as analytical ultracentrifugation and molecular modeling, to assess the intermolecular interactions and structural dynamics. Current areas of investigation include: protein-protein interactions on membrane surfaces, for example those involved in initiation of blood coagulation or in cell-cell communication; protein assembly interactions involved in regulation of transcription; and enzyme coordination and DNA dynamics in DNA repair. Our group has developed novel approaches for studying protein-protein and protein-nucleic acid interactions by replacing the endogenous tryptophan residues in recombinant proteins with tryptophan analogs, such as 5-hydroxy-, 7-aza-, 5-fluoro or 4-fluorotryptophan. These analogs confer special spectral properties to the protein of interest that can highlight it in the presence of other proteins, DNA or RNA. To highlight the sites of interaction in DNA or RNA, we use fluorescent base analogs, such as 2-aminopurine (an adenine analog) or 6-methyisoxanthopterine (a guanine analog). These pseudo intrinsic spectroscopic probes allow us to dissect complex biological interactions in ways that previously were not possible.

_______________________________________________________________
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Garino C, Gobetto R, Nervi C, Salassa L, Rosenberg E, Ross JBA, Chu X, Hardcastle KI, Sabatini C: Spectroscopic and Computational Studies of a Ru(II)Terpyridine Complex: The Importance of Weak Intermolecular Forces to Photophysical Properties. Inorg Chem, in press.

Sharmin A, Minazzo A, Salassa L, Rosenberg E, Ross JBA, Shariff SE, Hardcastle KI: Synthesis, Structure, Photophysical and Electrochemical Behavior of 2-amino-Anthracene Triosmium Clusters. Inorg Chim Acta, in press.

Senear DF, Tretyachenko-Ladokhina V, Opel ML, Aeling KA, Hatfield GW, Franklin LM, Darlington RC, Ross JBA: Pressure Dissociation of Integration Host Factor-DNA Complexes Reveals Flexibility-Dependent Structural Variation at the Protein-DNA Interface. Nucleic Acids Research, 35:1761-1772, 2007.

Ross JBA, Laws W, Shea M: Intrinsic Fluorescence in Protein Structure Analysis. in Protein Structures: Methods in Protein Structure and Structure Analysis, Eds. VN Uversky, EA Permyakov, Nova Science Publishers, Inc., New York, 2007.

Laws W, Ross JBA: Local Dynamics of Macromolecules by Time-Resolved Fluorescence Anisotropy. in, Protein Structures: Methods in Protein Structure and Structure Analysis, Eds. VN Uversky, EA Permyakov, Nova Science Publishers, Inc., New York, 2007.

Garino C, Ghiana S, Gobetto R, Nervi C, Salassa L, Croce G, Milanesio M, Rosenberg E, Ross JBA: Tricabonylchlororhenium(I) Carboxaldimine Derivatives: Synthesis, Structure and NMR Characterization of Z and E Isomers. Eur J Inorg Chem, 2006:2885-2893, 2006.

Gobetto R, Caputo G, Garino C, Ghiani S, Nervi C, Salassa L, Rosenberg E, Ross JBA, Viscardi G, Martra G, Miletto, Milanesio M: Synthesis, Electrochemical and Electrogenerated Chemi-luminescence Studies of Ruthenium(II) Bis(2,2'-bipyridyl){2-(4-methylpyridin-2-yl)benzo[d]-X-azole} Complexes. Eur J Inorg Chem, 2006:2839-2849, 2006.

Seibert E, Osman R, Ross JBA: Dynamics of DNA Damage Recognition. in DNA Damage Recognition, Ed. W Siede, P Doetsch, YW Kow, Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, 2005.

Garino C, Ghiani S, Gobetto R, Nervi C, Salassa L, Ancarani V, Neyroz P, Franklin L, Ross JBA, Seibert E: [Os(bpy)2(CO)(en)][OTf]: A Novel Sulfhydryl-specific Metal-Ligand Complex. J Inorg Chem, 44:3875-3879, 2005.