Laura Finzi named first Dr. Waenard L. Miller, Jr. ’69 and Sheila M. Miller Endowed Chair in Medical Biophysics

Laura Finzi, a molecular biophysicist who pioneered techniques to study how single molecules act in complex biological processes, has been appointed the inaugural Dr. Waenard L. Miller, Jr. '69 and Sheila M. Miller Endowed Chair in Medical Biophysics at Clemson University.

Finzi, who joined the Clemson faculty on July 1, brings a strong background of interdisciplinary research, collaboration and a passion for student learning. Prior to joining Clemson, she was a physics professor at Emory University, a faculty member in the graduate programs in chemistry and biomedical engineering, and a member of the cell and molecular biology research program at Emory's Winship Cancer Institute.

"We are thrilled to welcome world-class molecular biophysicist Dr. Laura Finzi to Clemson University. Her leadership at the forefront of new scientific discovery and innovation will have significant impact on Clemson's commitment to the advancement of human health," said Cynthia Young, dean of the College of Science. "It was the Millers who envisioned how powerful top talent at the convergence of physics and medicine could be in improving lives, and I'm grateful to Waenard and Sheila for their support and passion for this emerging and impactful field of research and education

Finzi's research focuses on the mechanics of DNA transcription, a field of study that could lead to a better understanding of how genes are regulated and advance precision medicine, which aims to tailor disease treatment and prevention to each patient's genetic makeup, environment and lifestyle.

"I love to build teams, to build momentum, to build programs. The medical biophysics program at Clemson has incredible potential to bring together colleagues and partners from across the university community to advance this area of science," said Finzi, who holds a joint appointment with the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Department of Bioengineering.

"I sensed immediately the support and enthusiasm that has come together for this program, and I am excited to be a part of it," she said.

(From left to right) Clemson University College of Science Dean Cynthia Y. Young, Dr. Waenard L. Miller, Jr., Sheila M. Miller, Laura Finzi and Finzi's husband and Department of Physics and Astronomy Research Professor David Dunlap.

Highest honor

The endowed chair position is one of the highest honors that can be bestowed on a faculty member by the University and comes with funds that can be used to advance the chair holder's research and education programs. Cardiologist Waenard L. Miller '69 and his wife, Sheila M. Miller, donated $2 million to establish the endowed chair in medical biophysics.

Miller, who earned his physics degree from Clemson in 1969, spent his career on the cutting edge of medicine. A co-founder of the Legacy Heart Center near Dallas, Texas, Miller earned his medical degree from the Medical University of South Carolina and completed his internal medicine residency and a fellowship in cardiology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. He also holds master's degrees in nuclear physics, biology and medical management.

"My 34 years as a cardiologist have given me a real-world opportunity to witness the significant improvements in the lives of my patients when science and health innovations are applied. Sheila and I are proud to help support the growth of this important and evolving discipline at Clemson University," Dr. Miller said. "It is with great anticipation that we welcome Dr. Finzi to Clemson. Her presence will pave the way for the University to lead in impactful medical biophysics research, applications and education initiatives."

Progressive evolution

Finzi calls her path to medical biophysics a "progressive evolution."

Finzi's father was a civil engineer and wished for his three daughters to follow in his footsteps.

"My father valued experience and I was the youngest. I realized that if I chose engineering, my word would have never carried the same weight as my father's or my sisters' and I had to be different, but I couldn't be less," she said. "When it was time for me to go to college, the two departments that were considered the toughest were engineering and industrial chemistry, so I enrolled in industrial chemistry at the University of Bologna."

While she was an undergraduate, National Academy of Sciences member Carlos Bustamante, then an assistant professor of chemistry at the University of New Mexico, came to the University of Bologna campus to give a colloquium and recruit graduate students.

Finzi moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and started her training in biophysics at UNM. After earning her Ph.D. in chemistry, she worked with Bustamante at UNM as a postdoctoral fellow. Bustamante then moved his research lab to the Institute of Molecular Biology at the University of Oregon.

"That was a wonderful experience because the institute brought together biologists, chemists and physicists and provided a really fertile and wonderful environment," she said.

Magnetic tweezers

There, she helped build the first generation of magnetic tweezers, an instrument used to study mechanical properties of molecules like DNA or proteins in single-molecule experiments.

Traditional approaches for studying molecular activity in biological processes are based on the assumption that all molecules of identical types behave in the same way, but that's often not the case. Single-molecule techniques allow researchers to study one molecule at a time and discover heterogeneities that may be, for example, at the basis of diseases.

"If you want to understand the mechanism of a molecular process in order to target it with a drug, you have to know how the molecules involved work or what happens when a few don't work. The behavior of a few can set in motion a disease," she said.

Finzi, who is an American Physical Society fellow, investigates the molecular mechanisms of transcriptional regulation using single-molecule techniques such as the tethered particle motion technique, magnetic and optical tweezers and atomic force microscopy. She also investigates DNA supercoiling, the torsional state of DNA that plays a role in determining how proteins bind to it and is, in itself, a fundamental regulatory mechanism of genomic function.

"There are so many opportunities, so many exciting directions and tools that are being developed in the field of medical biophysics and I'm thinking, for example, about machine learning techniques," she said. "There's all this new knowledge that's coming, these new potentials and new avenues to pursue. I'm excited about how these fields of expertise will come together and potentiate medical biophysics."

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