John Nagle

Professor, Physics

Education

Ph.D., Yale University

Research

Research is in the area of biological physics, with an interface with soft condensed matter physics. The particular systems under study are lipid bilayers, which form the structural basis of biomembranes. My studies focus on x-ray scattering, as well as theoretical modeling, statistical mechanical calculations and simulations, neutron scattering, and measurements of specific heat and volume as a function of temperature. The first goal is to obtain reliable data for basic structural properties. The second goal is to elucidate the interactions between bilayers. For biologically relevant fluid phase lipid bilayers, both goals involve measuring nanoscale fluctuations, which we do using  synchrotron x-rays. A longer-range goal is to understand how the molecular interactions bring about the structure and the fluctuations.

Selected Publications

• John F. Nagle, Introductory Lecture: Basic quantities in model biomembranes, Faraday Discussions 161, 11 (2012)
• Mohit Raghunathan, Yuriy Zubovski, Richard M. Venable, Richard W. Pastor, John F. Nagle, Stephanie Tristram-Nagle, Structure and Elasticity of Lipid Membranes with Genistein and Daidzein Bioflavinoids Using X-ray Scattering and MD Simulations, The Journal of Physical Chemistry B 116, 3918 (2012)
• Erik G. Brandt, Anthony R. Braun, Jonathan N. Sachs, John F. Nagle, Olle Edholm, Interpretation of Fluctuation Spectra in Lipid Bilayer Simulations, Biophysical Journal 100, 2104 (2011)
• Stephanie Tristram-Nagle, Rob Chan, Edgar Kooijman, Pradeep Uppamoochikkal, Wei Qiang, David P. Weliky, John F. Nagle, HIV Fusion Peptide Penetrates, Disorders, and Softens T-Cell Membrane Mimics, Journal of Molecular Biology 402, 139 (2010)
• Norbert Kučerka, John Katsaras, John F. Nagle, Comparing Membrane Simulations to Scattering Experiments: Introducing the SIMtoEXP Software, Journal of Membrane Biology 235, 43 (2010)
• Jianjun Pan, D. Peter Tieleman, John F. Nagle, Norbert Kučerka, Stephanie Tristram-Nagle, Alamethicin in lipid bilayers: Combined use of X-ray scattering and MD simulations, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Biomembranes 1788, 1387 (2009)
• Jianjun Pan, Thalia Mills, Stephanie Tristram-Nagle, John Nagle, Cholesterol Perturbs Lipid Bilayers Nonuniversally, Physical Review Letters 100, 198103 (2008)
• Norbert Kučerka, John F. Nagle, Jonathan N. Sachs, Scott E. Feller, Jeremy Pencer, Andrew Jackson, John Katsaras, Lipid Bilayer Structure Determined by the Simultaneous Analysis of Neutron and X-Ray Scattering Data, Biophysical Journal 95, 2356 (2008)
• Jianjun Pan, Stephanie Tristram-Nagle, Norbert Kučerka, John F. Nagle, Temperature Dependence of Structure, Bending Rigidity, and Bilayer Interactions of Dioleoylphosphatidylcholine Bilayers, Biophysical Journal 94, 117 (2008)
• Stephanie Tristram-Nagle, John F. Nagle, HIV-1 Fusion Peptide Decreases Bending Energy and Promotes Curved Fusion Intermediates, Biophysical Journal 93, 2048 (2007)
• Alexander I. Greenwood, Stephanie Tristram-Nagle, John F. Nagle, Partial molecular volumes of lipids and cholesterol, Chemistry and Physics of Lipids 143, 1 (2006)
• Jeffery B. Klauda, Norbert Kučerka, Bernard R. Brooks, Richard W. Pastor, John F. Nagle, Simulation-Based Methods for Interpreting X-Ray Data from Lipid Bilayers, Biophysical Journal 90, 2796 (2006)
• Norbert Kučerka, Stephanie Tristram-Nagle, John F. Nagle, Structure of Fully Hydrated Fluid Phase Lipid Bilayers with Monounsaturated Chains, Journal of Membrane Biology 208, 193 (2006)
• Norbert Kučerka, Yufeng Liu, Nanjun Chu, Horia I. Petrache, Stephanie Tristram-Nagle, John F. Nagle, Structure of Fully Hydrated Fluid Phase DMPC and DLPC Lipid Bilayers Using X-Ray Scattering from Oriented Multilamellar Arrays and from Unilamellar Vesicles, Biophysical Journal 88, 2626 (2005)
• Yufeng Liu, John Nagle, Diffuse scattering provides material parameters and electron density profiles of biomembranes, Physical Review E 69, 040901 (2004)
• Stephanie Tristram-Nagle, John F. Nagle, Lipid bilayers: thermodynamics, structure, fluctuations, and interactions, Chemistry and Physics of Lipids 127, 3 (2004)
• Horia I. Petrache, Stephanie Tristram-Nagle, Klaus Gawrisch, Daniel Harries, V. Adrian Parsegian, John F. Nagle, Structure and Fluctuations of Charged Phosphatidylserine Bilayers in the Absence of Salt, Biophysical Journal 86, 1574 (2004)
• John F. Nagle, Stephanie Tristram-Nagle, Structure of lipid bilayers, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Reviews on Biomembranes 1469, 159 (2000)