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Specialization:
Chemical Education
Education:
Dr. Kahn received his B. S. and M. S. degrees in chemistry from the University of Tartu in Estonia. He then moved on to the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri, receiving his Ph. D. degree in biochemistry in 1998. After serving for two years as a postdoctoral researcher with Professor T. C. Bruice, Dr. Kahn became a lecturer in biochemistry at UCSB in 2001.
Research:
Research Group Website: http://www.chem.ucsb.edu/~kalju/
Current Research
My research focuses on development and application of computational chemistry tools for solving biochemical problems. I believe that some of the fundamental questions in biochemistry, such as
- Origin of molecular recognition
- Nature of the enzyme catalysis
- Relationships between protein structure, dynamics, and function
can be answered with the help of computational methods.
Publications:
Selected Research Publications
Kahn, K.; Granovsky, A. A.; Noga, J. Convergence of third order correlation energy in atoms and molecules. J. Comput. Chem. 2007, 547-554.
Kahn, K.; Bruice, T. C. Focal point conformational analysis of ethanol, propanol, and isopropanol. ChemPhysChem. 2005, 6, 487-495.
Mazumder-Shivakumar, D.; Kahn, K.; Bruice, T. C. Computational study of the ground state of thermophilic indole glycerol phosphate synthase: structural alterations at the active site with temperature. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2004, 126, 5936-5937.
Kahn, K.; Bruice, T. C. Systematic convergence of energies with respect to basis set and treatment of electron correlation: focal point conformational analysis of methanol. Theor. Chem. Acc. 2004, 111, 18-24.
Kahn, K.; Bruice, T. C. Comparison of reaction energetics and leaving group interactions during the enzyme-catalyzed and uncatalyzed displacement of chloride from haloalkanes. J. Phys. Chem. B 2003, 107, 6876-6885.