Biophysical Society Bulletin | September 2021

Biophysicist in Profile

Officers President Frances Separovic President-Elect Gail Robertson Past-President Catherine A. Royer Secretary Erin Sheets Treasurer Samantha Harris Council Henry Colecraft Michelle A. Digman Erin C. Dueber Marta Filizola Gilad Haran Kumiko Hayashi Francesca Marassi

lated in silica glass. It didn’t hit me im- mediately, but this paper, from a group at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), led to the single most important move of my career.” Eggers had always planned to return to industry right after graduate school, but after applying to some local bio- technology companies and receiving no response, he started to think about an academic postdoctoral position. “I went back to the paper recommended by Ken Dill and realized that the glass encapsu- lation technique might serve as a model for molecular crowding and confinement ef- fects. I contacted Joan S. Valentine , one of the co-authors, and she responded to suggest we meet in San Francisco while she was there for a meeting of journal editors. I can still remember our first encounter outside of the Moscone Center. I think we both sensed this was a scientific match made in heaven, and I soon received an invitation to join her group at UCLA,” he shares. “Working in the Valen- tine laboratory was one of the most enjoy- able experiences of my life. Valentine group meetings were boisterous affairs filled with free-flowing ideas and energy, and our men- tor understood the importance of a work-life balance. I rarely visited the lab on weekends and found time to serve as an LGBT men- tor through a pioneering program run by Pat Alford-Keating of the UCLA Psychology Department. On the scientific front, my first experiments with glass-encapsulated pro- teins were analyzed on an old circular dichro- ism instrument in Jim Bowie ’s lab, ultimately leading to the two most-cited publications of my career. During this time, I was given a chance to teach metabolism to biochemistry majors during summer session. I was confi- dent that I could handle the teaching assign- ment, but I did not anticipate that I would like teaching so much. This enlightenment caused me to reconsider my future. Maybe I should pursue a tenure-track faculty position where I am valued as both a creative researcher and effective teacher?” He did just that, obtaining a position in 2002 with the Chemistry Department at SJSU. “My initial projects at SJSU were an extension of my glass encapsulation studies at UCLA. However, an early puzzling observation re- lated to apomyoglobin structure in the glass

Eggers with his husband David and dog Dempsey.

caused my interest and attention to shift from crowding effects to hydration effects. Today my lab’s main focus is water and how water influences binding and conformational equilibria. Using multiple biophysical tech- niques, my lab aims to demonstrate that the classical equations of thermodynamics for binding equilibria have obscured our un- derstanding of solvation effects; my group has published an alternative equation for equilibria that includes an explicit accounting term for water and that reveals the binding constant, K, is actually a variable that changes with product concentration when solvation is a significant contributor to the overall ther- modynamics. Toward this goal, two papers have been published and two more papers are in the making, all featuring results that suggest our approach is a step in the right direction. In addition, I am currently involved in a collaboration that examines the binding of potential therapeutic molecules to virus proteins. My lab is using microscale thermo- phoresis to measure the interaction of glyco- dendrimers, made by Katherine McReynolds at CSU Sacramento, with the surface proteins of HIV and SARS-CoV-2.” Eggers shares, “In the beginning, I thought my research was the most important, career-de- fining aspect of my job. Now, as I near retire- ment from academia, I realize my true legacy lies with the former students at SJSU who passed through my lab or classroom.” Outside of work, Eggers and his husband Da- vid follow the San Francisco Giants baseball team and enjoy traveling to figure skating competitions and watching the television game show Jeopardy!. And he says, “We spend a lot of our time spoiling our kid, a yellow Labrador Retriever named Dempsey.”

Susan Marqusee Joseph A. Mindell Carolyn A. Moores Kandice Tanner Biophysical Journal Jane Dyson Editor-in-Chief The Biophysicist Sam Safran Editor-in-Chief Biophysical Reports

Jörg Enderlein Editor-in-Chief

Society Office Jennifer Pesanelli Executive Officer Newsletter Executive Editor Jennifer Pesanelli Managing Editor John Long

Production Catie Curry Ray Wolfe Proofreader/Copy Editor Laura Phelan The Biophysical Society Newsletter (ISSN 0006-3495) is published eleven times per year, January-December, by the Biophysical Society, 5515 Security Lane, Suite 1110, Rockville, Maryland 20852. Distributed to USA members and other countries at no cost. Cana- dian GST No. 898477062. Postmaster: Send address changes to Biophysical Society, 5515 Security Lane, Suite 1110, Rockville, MD 20852. Copyright © 2021 by the Biophysical Society.

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