Paul Harper, Associate Professor
pharper@calvin.edu
616-526-6408
Science Building 161
1734 Knollcrest Circle SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49546
Areas of research
biophysics
Educational background
- BS in Physics, summa cum laude, Hope College, 1988
- PhD in Physics, Princeton University, 1996
Professional history
- Associate Professor of Physics, Calvin College, 2000-present
- Chair and Associate Professor of Physics, Grand Canyon University, 1998-2000
- Assistant Professor of Physics, Grand Canyon University, 1994-1997
Research interests
My research focuses on the biophysics of lipid membranes, with goal of better understanding the physics of how membranes tear and reassemble. In particular, we examine phase transitions between the lamellar and hexagonal phases formed by lipids.
Using laser light scattering, we measure the kinetics of these transitions for different model lipid systems.
Recent publications
Cook*, P.L., Vanderhill*, J.L., Cook*, A.E., Van Norstrand*, D.W., Gordon*, M.T., Harper, P.E.,
Light scattering measurement and Avrami analysis of the lamellar to inverse hexagonal phase transition kinetics of the lipid DEPE. Chem. Phys. Lipids 165, 270-276. (2012)
David A. Mannock, Marcus D. Collins, Manfried Kreichbaum, Paul E. Harper, Sol.M. Gruner, Ronald N. McElhaney, "The thermotropic phase behaviour and phase structure of a homologous series of racemic b-d-galactosyl dialkylglycerols studied by differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray diffraction," Chemistry and Physics of Lipids 148, 26-50 (July 2007).
P.E. Harper, D.M. Mannock, R.N.A.H. Lewis, R.N. McElhaney, and S.M. Gruner, "X-Ray Diffraction Structures of Some Phosphatidylethanolamine Lamellar and Inverted Hexagonal Phases," Biophysical Journal, Vol 81 pg. 2693 (2001).
D.A. Mannock, P.E. Harper, S.M. Gruner, R.N. McElhaney, "The physical properties of glycosyl diacylglycerols. Calorimetric, X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform spectroscopic studies of a homologous series of 1,2 di-O-acyl-3-O-(beta-D-galactopyranosyl)-sn-glycerols," Chem. Phys. Lip. vol 111, pg. 139 (2001).
P.E. Harper and S.M. Gruner. "Electron density modeling and reconstruction of infinite periodic minimal surfaces (IPMS) based phases in lipid-water systems. I. Modeling IPMS-based phases." Eur. Phys. J. E.,2, 217-228, 2000.
P.E. Harper, S.M. Gruner, R.N.A.H. Lewis, and R.N. McElhaney. "Electron density modeling and reconstruction of infinite periodic minimal surfaces (IPMS) based phases in lipid-water systems. II. Reconstruction of D surface based phases." Eur. Phys. J. E.,2, 229-245, 2000.
