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. |
