Spotlight
Steve Hicks
Steve Hicks is a graduate student working with professor Chris Henley on computer simulations. They study how a virus assembles a capsid the protein shell that protects a virus. Hicks' research focuses on answering the question "How does something this complicated yet this symmetrical form this way?" For example the T4 capsid is an icosahedron. Nothing intrinsic in the protein molecules dictates that it will be an icosahedron. "I model the capsid assembly by creating the shapes of the molecules on the computer, attaching forces to them, and letting them run." Do his simulations accurately model real viruses? "We have friends at Cornell and elsewhere who can do the experiments," says Hicks.