Biophysical Society Bulletin | June 2024

Biophysicist in Profile

Jessica M.J. Swanson Area of Research Multiscale simulations and kinetic modeling of electrochem ically driven transport, lipid droplets, and methanotrophic methane oxidation

Institution University of Utah

At-a-Glance

Jessica M.J. Swanson grew up in Los Alamos, New Mexico, with a father who worked at the nearby national lab. Being surrounded by science and as the offspring of a scientist, she can’t say exactly where her love of science comes from, but it’s likely some combination of both influences. Either way, her passion and curiosity has led her to a career developing multiscale simulations and kinetic modeling.

Jessica M.J. Swanson

Jessica M.J. Swanson ’s father was a scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, working in areas ranging from inor- ganic to bioinorganic chemistry. “He is the most curious man I know, and I love him for it,” she shares. “Some things run in the blood. Some are nurtured. My love for science could be a combination of the two.” She started her undergraduate studies at the University of New Mexico, where she had a soccer scholarship, but quick ly transitioned to the University of California, Davis, where she could still play soccer and could access more biochem istry major options. Swanson says, “I enrolled in undergrad as a biochemistry major, drawn to both the physical and life sciences, while also taking some additional physics and physical chemistry courses simply because I enjoyed them. It wasn’t until the end of my junior year that I was even aware of the domain of computational biophysics. I had a wonder fully curious and interesting professor teaching my physical chemistry course, Alexei Stuchebrukhov , who invited me to try some research in computational chemistry. I had no idea what that was. I naively thought it had something to do with data entry and that it would be terribly boring. I could not have been more wrong.” She recalls, “Alexei started me on a project exploring hydration properties in the proton pump cyto chrome c oxidase, a system I would eventually study enough to write a book chapter on it. It was wonderful—so intriguing. I knew then that I wanted to be a computational chemist, who used simulations to explain how things happen at the molec ular level, but I wanted to do it on biological systems. Enter computational biophysics.” After completing her bachelor’s degree, she took a year to try professional rock climbing while she applied to gradu ate schools. She states, “It was a good experience. I found non-academic life to be fun at first and then quite boring. So, I was more than ready by the time I started my PhD to return to it.” She did her graduate work at the University of Califor nia, San Diego, which she selected to work with Andy

McCammon . Swanson shares, “This was a good choice in the end. Andy is a wonderful leader, scientist, and person. He provided an environment that attracted good students and postdocs, creating a group I could thrive in.” Once she had completed her PhD, she received a Ruth Kirschstein National Research Service Award postdoctoral fellowship to work with Jack Simons at the University of Utah. “Jack was the third in a series of wonderful mentors,” she de clares. “In collaboration with the Gregory A. Voth Group, I was fortunate to be able to explore and learn a great deal about the domain of proton solvation and transport. Working with Jack, we used electronic structure calculations to quantify the degree of delocalization in the solvated excess proton and reactive MD [molecular dynamics] to revisit the process of proton pumping in cytochrome c oxidase.” Swanson worked at Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago from 2010 to 2019, at which point she accepted an assistant professorship at the University of Utah. Her lab works on developing multiscale kinetic modeling methods for channels and transporters, using simulations to characterize the regulation mechanisms of the lipid droplet proteome, characterizing the folding propensity and design strategies for lasso peptides, and unraveling the limiting factors in the uptake and oxidation of methane in methano trophs to advance the development of bioreactors for meth ane mitigation. Her favorite thing about biophysics is the role biophysics researchers play in helping to solve societal problems by working together to unravel and explain fascinating and sometimes fundamental scientific questions. Swanson remarks, “Going forward, I’m excited to see an increasing powerful bridge between theory and experiment and a growing appreciation of how equilibrium descriptions form a foundation to understand how non-equilibrium behavior drives the processes we often want to describe.

June 2024

4

THE NEWSLETTER OF THE BIOPHYSICAL SOCIETY