Paul D. Adams

Divisions

Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging

• Structural Biology

Secondary Affiliation:

Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology

• Comparative and Functional Genomics

Biography

As the ALD for Biosciences, Paul Adams oversees the Biological Systems & Engineering (BSE), Environmental Genomics & Systems Biology (EGSB), and Molecular Biophysics & Integrated Bioimaging (MBIB) Divisions, as well as the DOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI). Adams is a senior scientist who has served as Director of the MBIB Division since 2015 and as Vice President for Technology and Director of Structural Biology for the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) since 2007. He heads a multi-institutional program, which he established when he joined the Lab in 1999, that develops the Phenix software suite used by structural biologists worldwide to solve macromolecular structures. In addition, he has overseen the Biosciences activities at the Advanced Light Source (ALS) since 2011 and has been Laboratory Research Manager for the ENIGMA Scientific Focus Area since 2009. Adams’s research focuses on the development of new algorithms and methods for structural biology, structural studies of large macromolecular machines, and development of cellulosic biofuels. He earned his doctorate in biochemistry at the University of Edinburgh and performed his postdoctoral work at Yale University. He is also an adjunct professor in the department of bioengineering at the University of California Berkeley.

Research Interests

Computational Methods Development
Much of my research is focused on the development of new algorithms and methods for problems in structural biology. In collaboration with researchers from Los Alamos National Lab, Duke University and Cambridge University we have developed a new software system with NIH Program Project funding and industrial funding, called PHENIX, for the automated solution of macromolecular structures using crystallographic and cryo-electron microscopy methods. With other NIH funding we have expanded the scope of PHENIX to include the analysis of neutron diffraction data.

Accelerator Resources for Structural Biology
As Division Deputy for Biosciences at the Advanced Light Source I help coordinate the biosciences activities and lead the Biosciences Council. An area of particular interest to me is the structural study of large macromolecular machines combining multiple experimental and computational methods.

Bioenergy Research
The need to develop carbon-neutral and renewable sources of energy has become a priority. The conversion of cellulosic (plant) material to advanced biofuels has the potential to provide a significant fraction of transportation fuel in the future. As part of the Joint Bioenergy Institute I am developing new technologies to improve the conversion of biomass to fuels. We have also developed new methods for the chemical imaging of plant call wall material.