UTMB

Andres Oberhauser, Ph.D.,
Associate Professor

Faculty

Andres Oberhauser, Ph.D.

About the Lab

We are interested in the mechanism by which proteins respond to mechanical forces. We are developing single-molecule manipulation techniques to investigate the effect of disease-causing mutations on the nano-mechanics of muscle and kidney proteins. We have currently three main research projects:

  1. Mutations in Polycystin-1 cause Autosomal-Dominant-Polycystic-Kidney Disease, a common life-threatening genetic disease. We have discovered that Polycystin-1 has unique mechanical properties (Qian et al., 2005) and that pathogenic mutations can alter its nano-mechanics. We are investigating the molecular mechanisms that link mutations in Polycystin-1 with some of the disease phenotypes.
  2. Titin proteins provide muscles with their exceptional elastic properties. We have found that titins are finely tuned to their micro-environment and that titin domains can fold under an applied force which hints for a previously uncharacterized folding-based spring mechanism (Bullard et al., 2006). Since mutations in titin proteins have been linked to several genetic muscular diseases we are investigating the folding pathways of normal and mutant titin proteins.
  3. iii) Urinary tract infections rank among the most common bacterial infections. We have discovered that the adhesive P-pili of uropathogenic E. coli are dynamic structures that function as molecular springs under applied forces (Miller et al., 2006). In order to develop novel therapeutic approaches, we are screening for small compounds that interfere with Pilus elasticity.

Interview with Dr. Oberhauser

– by Aishwarya Ravindran , 3rd year BSCB Student

“And all experience is an arch
Wherethrough gleams the untravelled world...”
These words of Lord Tennyson from his famous poem ‘Ulysses’ express the attitude of a wonderful scientist, friend, philosopher- Dr.Andres Oberhauser. The trait of a mountaineer coupled with that of a scientist is what defines Dr. Andres Oberhauser. Dr. Andres Oberhauser hails from Chile, and began his career as a mountaineer, exploring the highest mountain ranges in his country. My curiosity sprang up to ask him on what led him to become a scientist and enter the scientific world, for which he replied, “Oh, it was just random walk.”

During one of his mountaineering expeditions, he met his post-doctorate mentor who inspired him to take up a scientific research career in the field of electrophysiology. At the same time, he ran into Clay Armstrong, the grandfather of electrophysiology, who first postulated the existence and mechanism of ion selectivity in the 1960’s. It was the first impression after conversing with the two renowned scientists that led him to traverse the path of an electro physiologist which ultimately drove his enthusiasm to take up a scientific career.

“UTMB is unique because it has the biophysical, cell biology and a clinical component and serves to provide an interlink between all the three components.”–Dr. Oberhauser,
on what makes the BSCB and UTMB environment unique.

I continued the interview by asking him on what motivates him to do research for which he replied that it is the freedom and the challenge to do things that one has never done before.

Dr. Oberhauser speaks very highly of UTMB of the fact that in addition to being a medical school, it provides a good interface between physicians and basic scientists. Being a single molecule physicist, he feels that this interface is important to him for the fact that he is able to find a link between single molecule approach and its application in medicine.

When I asked him on what makes the BSCB program unique, he replied it is the one to one mentorship. The fact that he sees his students grow as budding scientists gives him immense joy and justifies his role of being their mentor by training them to achieve greater heights of success. When I asked him on whom his scientific idol was, unlike any other conventional modern biologist, Dr.Oberhauser’s scientific idol is Miledi and Katz. These two scientists are well renowned for establishing the theory of “action potential”, and the mechanism of ion channels. Dr.Oberhauser shows fond appreciation for Miledi and Katz for their unceasing perseverance inspite of the fact that they did not have any financial support for their research. Dr. Oberhauser considers biology as an offshoot of physics and any progress in biological research is driven by progresses in physics. “We can’t do wonders in biology without physics, so it is physics that drives all other sciences.”

“Mountaineering and Science are one and the same, one has to push himself or herself to the limits and continue to go unceasingly.”–Dr. Oberhauser,
on science and mountaineering.

Dr.Oberhauser finds beauty in truth. To him the most beautiful scientific observation is the ability to observe protein folding events using single molecule techniques. His major goal is to use a “ground up approach” to find therapeutic solutions to diseases. He foresees his research progressing by first studying the structure, and then the physical properties of biomolecules that play an important role in diseases and finally relating them to their role in-vivo in order to understand their function and ultimately provide a therapeutic solution. His long-term goal is to correlate single molecule approach to the phenotype of any disease situation. When asked on where he would like to be in terms of his research progress, with a glint in his eye that showed his personal satisfaction “I would like to have a good research team and deal with scientifically significant problems, and make sure that this research adds value to finding solutions to such problems.”

His advice to all BSCB students is to persevere, work hard. His opinion about a good scientist is one who reads a lot and keeps himself/herself informed. He also encourages developing a good student-mentor relationship which is an integral part of any graduate student’s life. His message to prospective scientists is that, “We have many opportunities in science, so in order to make use of the opportunities that knock on one’s door, one has to publish papers in his graduate life and quickly gain the freedom to be able to perform independent research.”

"Work and thou canst not escape the reward; whether thy work be fine or coarse, planting corn or writing epics, so only it be honest work...it shall earn a reward to the senses as well as to the thought...The reward of a thing well done is to have done it."
–Ralph Waldo Emerson