Overview

John Brady is a Professor in the Department of Food Science at the Ithaca campus. He received a BS in Chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1975, and a PhD in Chemistry from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1980. During much of his graduate studies he was a visiting staff member at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. He received his postdoctoral training in Chemistry at Harvard University working with Prof. Martin Karplus. He joined the Cornell faculty in 1983.

Research Focus

Our research primarily involves the dynamics and hydration of biopolymers, and of the relationship between structure, conformation, and function in biological systems. Specific examples includes the solution behavior of biopolymers, the factors which determine secondary and tertiary structure in polymers, enzymatic reaction mechanisms, rational drug design, the effects of point mutations in proteins, and the possibility of engineering desirable modifications in the function of wild-type proteins. In our work we use the techniques of computational theoretical chemistry to numerically model the properties of biopolymers and solutions. These techniques, often called Molecular Mechanics, include computer graphics-based molecular docking, energy minimization and conformational energy calculations, and molecular dynamics simulations.

Teaching Focus

My teaching activities focus on food chemistry and the chemistry of carbohydrates in foods and in other biological systems. I teach the department's required main course in food chemistry and supervise the course in commodity food chemistry.

Additional Links

• Link to CALS Research and Impact
• Link to Research & Expertise Across Cornell

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