UTMB

Vincent J. Hilser, Ph.D.,
Professor

Faculty

Vincent J. Hilser, Ph.D.

About the Lab

Conformational Fluctuations in Function and Disease Conformational fluctuations have emerged as an important aspect of biological function, playing a critical role in processes ranging from molecular recognition to catalysis and allosteric coupling. Our lab is interested in elucidating the structural and energetic basis of fluctuations, as well as their functional consequences, and applying this information to the development of protein design and optimization strategies and novel fold classification and genomic approaches.

Research in our lab focuses on the development and testing of structure-based models of conformational fluctuations that can capture a broad spectrum of biophysical and functional phenomena within a unified framework. Our goal is to quantitatively link fluctuations to folding and stability, allowing us to investigate the complex interplay between ligand binding, global structural transitions and fluctuations. To challenge and refine our evolving model, we employ a number of experimental systems, using titration and scanning calorimetry, NMR spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography, CD, and fluorescence spectroscopy to provide both global and sight resolved characterizations of proteins.

Interview with Dr. Hilser

– by Keerthi Gottipati, 2nd year BMB Student

“It's like a Blackhole, You don't understand it from what you see, rather you do so from studying what you do not see”– Dr. Hilser, on Science

Vince, as we all commonly address Dr.Hilser as, being the director of the Sealy Center for Structure Biology is about the busiest faculty I’ve come across in UTMB. The mess on his desk and his ever-buzzing Blackberry are proof of this fact. Yet he is also about the most approachable person in BSCB. He kicked off the interview by giving us a perspective of his philosophy of the science that he pursues. He alluded to 'the shadows on the cave wall' in Plato's Republic and said “What we are studying right now in biology is reality in a reduced dimensionality or reduced entropy.” He intends to investigate the impact of this entropy, the increased invisible dimensionality on the biological functions of proteins as opposed to studying the protein as a static structure. So when I asked him what he considered was his best contribution to science he said that the discovery that site-site communication in proteins is not associated with a physical pathway has been his most satisfying work.

“Be bold and be yourself. It's the last great job, be good at it!”– Dr. Hilser's, message to all aspiring young scientists and students.

Vince’s passion for a risky sport like surfing is reflected in the way he does science when he says that getting to rely completely on his wits and having the confidence to do so in spite of not knowing what is going to hit him is what motivates him to continue as a researcher. “I don't know what I'll do five years from now. The thought would terrorize most people,” he says. Vince's idol is the Renaissance man; Benjamin Franklin who he feels was grossly underestimated but was one who had great intuition in his work.

So what does this energetic scientific-surfer consider to be the most beautiful discovery in all of science; he replies without second thought that it has to be the chemical structure of DNA that gave way to the realization that life has a chemical code. “That discovery” he added, “had almost religious implications.” Coming in a close second was the discovery that Ribozome is actually a Ribozyme! According to him it was the best piece of evidence that life evolved from the primordial soup.

Vince is not only a passionate researcher but also one of the most challenging mentors in the program. So I wanted to know how exactly his students turned out to be so good in their respective fields. The secret he says is to harness a student's passions when they come in and let them work and publish in what they are interested and passionate about.

“I'm not a clock-puncher. I leave them on their own leash 'to hang themselves with'!”– Dr. Hilser, on the work environment in his lab.

Dr.Hilser is not only an expert in thermodynamics but also a quick witted political critique and an incredibly persuasive speaker. No wonder he is the pioneering force behind the BSCB program. So when asked what exactly made BSCB such a unique and coveted program he said that the BSCB track was designed to give students a strong background in basics of the language of thermodynamics since, at the end, all of biology is written in it. The uniqueness, he said, came from the effort to bridge the gap between exclusive theoreticians, computational biologists and lab experimenters.

Vince has high expectations from the students in the program; He said it has evolved immensely over the last 5 years and emphasized that the faculty are constantly working on improving it. When asked to comment on the program's curriculum he said that contrary to learning things didactically the students in the program were trained to find a perspective of the world for themselves and find data to explain, support or counter that view.

“There is something about pushing yourself to your limits that makes you respect your work and that of others. That is what exactly we expect the students to achieve!”– Dr. Hilser, on what he expects from the students of the BMB/BSCB program.

According to Dr.Hilser, intellectual honesty and curiosity are the two absolute qualities that a good researcher needs to inculcate. Knowing the difference between interpretation and real data and separating it until we know for sure is something which he feels science demands from the explorer. Though simple, the wisdom in his message is deep rooted.