John Portman

John Portman is a Professor and Interim Chair in the Department of Physics at Kent State University. His research focuses on molecular biological physics, particularly the relationship between protein conformational flexibility and biological function. He develops analytical and computational approaches to study protein folding, allostery, and conformational changes using statistical physics and molecular dynamics simulations.

Expertise includes Biological Physics, Chemical Physics, Protein Dynamics, Biopolymers, and Structural Biology. He has advised students such as Swarnendu Tripathi and Prithviraj Nandigrami in studies of calmodulin domains and protein folding mechanisms. His work integrates theoretical concepts from statistical physics with computational modeling to explore molecular-scale phenomena.

Key research themes involve understanding how inherent flexibility influences protein function, with applications to allostery and folding kinetics. His lab's studies often combine coarse-grained simulations with experimental data to elucidate molecular mechanisms in systems like calmodulin and spectrin domains.