Research Interests

Dr. Langs has had a longtime interest both in the structure and function of biological ion channels and in X-ray crystallographic structure determination methods. His specialty is solving the most intractable structures.

Recent Studies

Research efforts have recently been concentrated on macromolecular phasing applications at less than atomic resolution. These include both ab initio phasing as well as resolving the crystallographic phase ambiguity for single wave length anomalous scattering (SAS) and sing derivative isomorphous replacement interest is now focused on SIR applications as they apply to neutron diffraction data in the specific case that an H/D replacement substructure can not readily be determined. These new methods represent the cutting edge in macromolecular structure determination as more powerful neutron spallation sources are built for biomolecular structure research in the near future.

Collaborations

Dr. Langs has collaborated with colleges at the State University of New York at Buffalo and elsewhere nationally and internationally.

Selected Awards, Honors, & Invited Lectures
Invited Lecturer

• Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, Tokai, Japan(1/05)
• ORCS Symposium, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan (1/05)
• XVIIIth IUCr meeting, Glasgow, Scotland (8/99)
• Frederick National Cancer Inst., Frederick, MD (11/94)
• Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (1/94)
• University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA (4/88; 5/89)
• University of Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands (5/88)
• Workshop on Translation Techniques, University of Texas, Austin, Texas (3/87)
• Invited Scientific Consultant, Shemyakin Inst. of Bioorganic Chem., Moscow, USSR (2-3/79)
• Guest Lecturer, Armenian Acad. of Sci., Inst. of Biochem., Yerevan, Armenian SSR (2/79)

Honors and Awards

• Hooker Chemical Research Fellowship, 1965
• American Institute of Chemists Medal, 1963
• New York State Undergraduate Regents Scholarship, 1959-1963
• Buffalo Courier Express Scholarship Award, 1959

Previous Positions

1968, Georgetown University, Department of Chemistry, Postdoctoral Research Fellow
1969, University of Sydney, Australia, School of Chemistry, Postdoctoral Research Fellow
1972-1989, Hauptman-Woodward Institute, (1972-78, Postdoctoral Research Fellow; 1978-84, Research Scientist)

Selected Publications

Dr. Langs has published 100 papers, (17 as a sole author) 87 abstracts, 17 chapters, and 1 review. These include 9 articles which have appeared in Nature, Science and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, USA.

• Langs, D.A., Hauptman, H.A., & Xu, H. (2005) Future Prospects for the Phase Determination of Macromolecular Structures from Neutron Data Alone, in Hydrogen- and Hydration-Sensitive Structural Biology, KubaPro Co. Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, pp. 207-212.
• Glowka, M.L., Olczak, A., Bojarska, J., Szczcesio, M. Duax, W. L., Burkhart, B. M., Pangborn, W.A. Langs, D.A. & Wawrzak, Z. (2005) Structure of gramicidin D-RbC1 complex at atomic resolution from low-temperature synchrotron data: interactions of double-stranded gramicidin channel contents and cations with channel wall, Acta Cryst. D61, 433-441.
• Hauptman, H.A. & Langs, D.A. (2003). The phase problem in neurtron crystallography, Acta Cryst. A59, 250-254.
• Langs, D.A., (2002) Elimination of minimal FFT grid-size limitations, J. Appl. Cryst. 35, 505.
• Langs, D.A., Blessing, R. H. & Guo, D. (2001). Improvement of SAS triple invariant estimates for macromolecular direct-methods phasing, Acta Cryst. A57, 240-243.
• Langs, D. A. and Triggle, D. J. (1992). Structural Motifs for Ion Channels in Membranes, in The Structure of Biological Membranes, P. L. Yeagle (Ed.), CRC Press, Inc., Boca Raton, FL, Chapter 16, pp. 721-780.