David Michael Jameson

Biography

I received my B.S. degree in Chemistry from Ohio State University and then attended graduate school at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  My thesis advisor was Gregorio Weber, widely acknowledged as the father of biological fluorescence.  After receiving my PhD, I moved to France to carry out  postdoctoral research at the ACO Synchrotron Radiation source at the Universite de Paris Sud in Orsay. After about 18 months I returned to the University of Illinois where I began a postdoctoral position in Gregorio Weber's laboratory.  My first faculty position was in the Pharmacology Department at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.  I left Texas to accept a position at the University of Hawaii, where I have been since 1989.  I am presently Full Professor in the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology at the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii.  My research interests over the years have always focused on the development and application of fluorescence methodologies, primarily polarization/anisotropy and time-resolved techniques, to study biomolecular interactions.  Although most of my work has involved protein-protein and protein-ligand interactions I have also worked on membrane systems as well as nucleic acids.  During the last ten years or so I have been applying advanced fluorescence microscope techniques, primarily based on fluorescence fluctuation spectroscopy, to study protein interactions in living cells.  In 2004, I received the Gregorio Weber Award for Excellence in Fluorescence Theory and Applications.

Education

B.S. Chemistry 1971, Ohio State University; Ph.D. Biochemsitry 1978 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Areas of Research / Professional Expertise

Fluorescence Spectroscopy; Biomolecular Interactions; Protein-Protein Interactions

Personal Interests

Obviously since I live in Hawaii I enjoy going to the ocean and beach.  I have been a fan of science fiction since I was quite young and still try to keep up with new authors.  I have a pilots license but must admit that I have not personally flown for years.  But I keep the airlines busy with trips to the mainland US as well as Europe, Asia, Australia and South America.  Every three years, with my friend and colleague Enrico Gratton (UCI), I help to organize the Weber Symposium on Innovative Fluorescence Methodologies in Biochemistry and Medicine.  This meeting, held in Hawaii since 1995, honors the far-reaching contributions of Gregorio Weber to the fluorescence field.  My website is: thejamesonlab.wordpress.com

Books