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Genetic science research
George Mason University

Faculty & Staff Directory

Christopher Lockhart

  • Research Assistant Professor

    Contact Info

    Lockhart
    Name
    Dr. Christopher Lockhart
    Job Title
    Research Assistant Professor
    Website
    binf.gmu.edu/clockha2
    Office Number
    Colgan Hall, 328E, MSN 5B3, Science & Tech Campus

    Affiliations

    Departments

    Research Areas

    • Simulation
    • Molecular Dynamics
    • Bioinformatics
    • Proteomics
    • Modeling

    Education

    PhD, Bioinformatics & Computational Biology, George Mason University (2015)

    BS, Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech (2010)

    BS, Psychology, Virginia Tech (2010)

    Current Research

    Dr. Lockhart uses computational methods to study biomolecules of medical importance. He frequently employs all-atom molecular dynamics simulations with enhanced sampling algorithms to exhaustively explore the conformational ensembles of target systems and compute their thermodynamic properties of interest. In particular, he has focused on uncovering the mechanisms that govern the interactions between intrinsically disordered Alzheimer’s disease Aβ peptides, lipid bilayers, and ligands.

    Teaching Focus

    Dr. Lockhart has taught several courses at George Mason University including Computing for Scientists (CDS-130), Modeling and Simulation I (CDS-230), Systems Biology (BINF-701/BIOS-701), and Machine Learning for Bioinformatics (BINF-760).

    Selected Publications

    Lockhart, C., Smith, A. K., & Klimov, D. K. (2020) Three popular force fields predict consensus mechanism of Aβ peptide binding to the DMPC bilayer. J. Chem. Inf. Model. 60(4): 2282-2293, doi:10.1021/acs.jcim.0c00096

    Lockhart, C., Smith, A. K., & Klimov, D. K. (2019) Methionine oxidation changes the mechanism of Aβ peptide binding to the DMPC bilayer. Sci. Rep. 9(5947): 1-12, doi:10.1038/s41598-019-42304-9

    Smith, A. K., Lockhart, C., & Klimov, D. K. (2016) Does replica exchange with solute tempering efficiently sample Aβ peptide conformational ensembles? J. Chem. Theory Comput. 12(10): 5201-5214, doi:10.1021/acs.jctc.6b00660

    Lockhart, C. & Klimov, D. K. (2014) Alzheimer's Aβ10-40 peptide binds and penetrates DMPC bilayer: an isobaric-isothermal replica exchange molecular dynamics study. J. Phys. Chem. B 118(10): 2638-2648, doi:10.1021/jp412153s

    Lockhart, C., Kim, S., & Klimov, D. K. (2012) Explicit solvent molecular dynamics simulations of Aβ peptide interacting with ibuprofen ligands. J. Phys. Chem. B 116(43): 12922-12932, doi:10.1021/jp306208n

    Contact Info

    Lockhart
    Name
    Dr. Christopher Lockhart
    Job Title
    Research Assistant Professor
    Website
    binf.gmu.edu/clockha2
    Office Number
    Colgan Hall, 328E, MSN 5B3, Science & Tech Campus

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