Michael McGovern received a BS in chemical engineering from Cooper Union in 2007. He joined the de Pablo group in 2007 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and is a visiting student at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering.
Using molecular simulations, McGovern studies protein aggregation and protein-membrane interaction. Understanding these processes may help with developing treatments for many human diseases such as diabetes, Huntington’s disease, and Alzheimer’s disease. Another focus of his research has been to improve existing computational techniques for free energy calculations. In conjunction with these areas of research, he also studies the structure of glasses, using new simulation techniques to learn about the behavior of glasses aged far beyond time scales accessible to experiments.
Sculpting bespoke mountains: Determining free energies with basis expansions
Whitmer, Jonathan K., et al. "Sculpting bespoke mountains: Determining free energies with basis expansions." The Journal of chemical physics 143.4 (2015): 044101.
Secondary structure of rat and human amylin across force fields
Hoffmann, Kyle Quynn, et al. "Secondary structure of rat and human amylin across force fields." PloS one 10.7 (2015): e0134091.
A Boundary Correction Algorithm for Metadynamics in Multiple Dimensions
McGovern, Michael and de Pablo, Juan. A Boundary Correction Algorithm for Metadynamics in Multiple Dimensions. Journal of Chemical Physics. 2013. Vol. 139.
Dimerization of Helical β-Peptides in Solution
Michael McGovern, Nicholas Abbott, and Juan J. de Pablo. Dimerization of Helical β-Peptides in Solution. Biophysical Journal. 2012. Vol. 102, Pg. 1435-1442.