Dr. Bridges' general research focus is centered on the study of small, intrinsically unstructured proteins and the changes to their motional dynamics upon binding, activation, phosphorylation, etc. Of particular interest is the cytoskeletal regulation protein, stathmin (or oncoprotein-18) - the configurational and dynamical changes it undergoes upon binding to microtubules and free tubulin. The goal is to elucidate the mechanism of microtubule destabilization by Stathmin as a function of phosphorylation level, employing the techniques of side-directed mutagenesis, nitroxide spin labeling of free protein cysteines, and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy.