Faculty

Umit Akbey

Molecular mechanism of amyloid fibrils in health and disease The aim of my Lab is to understand molecular mechanisms of amyloid fibrils in health and disease. Amyloid fibrils are known for...

Our research is focused on elucidating the structure function relationship of cytochrome P450 enzymes in lung cancer using biochemistry, cell biology, and X-ray protein crystallography. Members of the cytochrome P450 CYP4F...

Jeffrey Brodsky

Molecular Chaperones/Protein Quality Control All secreted proteins, and most that ultimately reside within the cell, must traverse the secretory pathway, a network of intracellular organelles housing the machines that help secreted...

Guillermo Calero

X-ray crystallography, Transcription, DNA repair, membrane Structural studies of macromolecular complexes using X-ray crystallography; especially, macromolecular complexes involved in key cellular functions such as transcription, DNA-repair and GPCR signaling EducationPhD 1998-2003, Cornell...

Anne Carlson

The Carlson lab studies ion channels and fertilization. Our lab studies excitable using biophysical tools such as electrophysiology, photometry and fluorometry, as well as diverse biochemical methods. We currently have two...

Seth Childers

Biophysical chemistry and synthetic biology studies of bacterial signaling processes. Bacteria make several behavioral decisions that affect our lives ranging from beneficial symbiosis with crops to the accumulation as virulent biofilms...

Lillian Chong

Molecular simulations and rare-event sampling We use molecular simulations to characterize the pathways and kinetics of long-timescale biological processes. We have also been developing simulation strategies to aid the design of...

Rob Coalson

Theory of chemical dynamics Exact and approximate wavepacket dynamics techniques, developed in our group and elsewhere, have been utilized to investigate experimentally observable signatures of condensed ph ase quantum dynamics. Specific...

Jonathan Coleman

Structure and function of transporters in neurons The aim of my research is to elucidate the molecular function, architecture, and high-affinity drug binding sites of synaptic vesicle transporters in neurons by...

James Conway

Virus structure with cryo-EM I study the structure and function of macromolecular complexes, such as virus capsids, using cryo-electron microscopy and combine this with subunit atomic models to extend interpretation into details of...

Alex Deiters

Optical Control of Cellular Processes Nature controls biological processes with exquisite spatial and temporal precision. In order to study and understand these processes, an equally precise external control element is required....

Markus Deserno

Theoretical and computational biological physics I use both theoretical and computational techniques to study a varietyof fundamental biophysical questions that emerge on the (meso-)scaleof tens to hundreds of nanometers. For instance,...

Jacob Durrant

The Durrant lab develops and applies computer-aided drug-design techniques to identify biologically active small molecules (drug leads and chemical probes). We use computational techniques to design small-molecule ligands that interfere with...

William Furey

Enzyme crystallography Determination and analysis of structure-function relationships in macromolecules of biological interest, including thiamin diphosphate dependent enzymes, immunoglobulins, bacterial toxins, digestive enzymes and other proteins. X-Ray Crystallography is the primary...

Angela Gronenborn

Structural basis of signaling & gene regulation Our research combines nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy with Biophysics, Biochemistry, and Chemistry to investigate cellular processes at the molecular and atomic levels in...

Andrew Hinck

Solution NMR studies of TGF-beta family signaling proteins Research information In the Hinck laboratory, we are interested in utilizing the tools of structural biology to understand how the structure and dynamics of...

Seth Horne

Study of synthetic protein analogues Research in the Horne lab is focused on the design, synthesis and study of synthetic analogues of polypeptides and proteins. The cellular machinery underlying life is...

Olexandr Isayev

The Isayev lab works at the interface of theoretical chemistry, pharmaceutical sciences, and artificial intelligence (AI). We are working towards the acceleration of molecular discovery and design, in particular of...

Rieko Ishima

NMR spectroscopy The major objective of our research has been to determine protein structure and dynamics using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR); spectroscopy, in order to elucidate protein function particularly relating to...

Kabirul Islam

CHEMICAL APPROACHES TO EPIGENETICS Research information Research in the Islam lab seeks to understand the role of epigenetic mechanisms particularly chemical modifications on DNA and histones in eukaryotic gene regulation. We take...

Saleem Khan

Replication initiator proteins, DNA helicases, & micro RNAs Areas of research: Gene regulation by microRNAs; PcrA helicase-DNA interactions. Our laboratory is studying the mechanism by which the human papillomavirus (HPV) oncogenes alter...

Kazunori Koide

Organic synthesis & fluorescent sensors Research in the Koide group is comprised of several interdisciplinary projects. Each project utilizes a combination of chemical and biological solutions to solve a complex problem....

Maria Kurnikova

Molecular dynamics & function of channels Currently research in my group focuses on theoretical/computational modeling of structure/function relationships and mechanisms of functioning of ion channel and receptor proteins. These proteins are...

Grace Kenney

Structures, mechanisms, and biological roles of new classes of microbial enzymes and microbial natural products Even in the best-studied microbes, a significant proportion of the proteins and pathways remain unidentified and...

Frederick Lanni

Mechanics of cells The mechanical activities of non-muscle cells drive many processes in embryonic development, tissue maintenance and healing, immune cell migration and function, neuronal circuit formation, and progression of certain...

Sanford Leuba

Single-molecule spectroscopy of chromatin & molecular motors Since the discovery of the nucleosome in the early 1970's, scientists have sought to correlate chromatin structure and dynamics with biological function. More recently, we...

Jason Lohmueller

Synthetic biology approaches to engineer immune cells. We use synthetic biology approaches to genetically reprogram immune cells to treat disease. Immune cells are an ideal chassis for therapeutic intervention as they...

Kevin McCarthy

Virus host coevolution, antibodies, viral glycoproteins, vaccines and emergining diseases. The McCarthy laboratory studies the co-evolution of viruses and their hosts, using genetic, molecular, biochemical, and structural approaches. Among the proteins...

Patrick Moore

Mechanisms for human virus-induced carcinogenesis Our lab is jointly managed by Patrick Moore and Yuan Chang. We work mainly on two viruses that we discovered, a herpesvirus (KSHV, 1994) and a...

Patricia Opresko

Mechanisms of DNA helicase action on telomeric substrates Maintenance of the genome is critical for the survival and health of an organism. Genomic mutations and alterations promote cancer, and the incidence...

Gordon Rule

Protein ligand interactions by NMR My research is directed at understanding inter-molecular interactions in biological systems. An understanding of these interactions is required if biological systems are to be comprehended at...

Sunil Saxena

EPR spectroscopy The intellectual thrust of the Saxena Group is focused on developing Fourier Transform electron spin resonance and its application to otherwise inaccessible problems in biophysics. The coupling of electron...

Thomas Smithgall

Cytoplasmic Tyrosine Kinase Structure, Function, and Chemical Biology My research program applies an interdisciplinary approach to a broad range of questions surrounding the roles of cytoplasmic protein-tyrosine kinase signaling pathways in...

Stella Sun

Structure and function of cellular machinery in human parasites My lab is dedicated to the experimental and computational application of cryo-ET for structural determination of biological macromolecules or biological machinery in...

Xiaojun Tan

Cellular, molecular, and biochemical principles of aging and age-related disease We aim to understand aging and age-related diseases from the cellular, molecular, and biochemical levels. Cellular quality control systems respond to...

Pei Tang

NMR & computations of protein structures, dynamics, & drug effects Research in the Tang Group focuses on the structures and dynamics of membrane proteins, which are the primary targets for many classes...

Stephanie Tristram-Nagle

Membrane structure and interactions with diffuse x-ray scattering I study membrane structure at 1 angstrom resolution using synchrotron x-ray diffuse scattering. Fully hydrated fluid-phase membranes, such as those in the human body,...

Andrew VanDemark

Molecular mechanisms underlying transcription and cellular morphology My lab uses a variety of biophysical and biochemical techniques to identify and describe the molecular mechanisms that underlie a variety of important biological...

Jean-Pierre Vilardaga

Structural and cellular mechanisms of G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) signaling to advance therapies for bone, mineral diseases. The Vilardaga Laboratory is directed at understanding molecular and cellular mechanisms of G protein-coupled...

Ben Van Houten

Structure-function studies of nucleotide excision repair proteins Structure-function Studies of Nucleotide Excision Repair Proteins. Faulty DNA repair can promote mutations, aging, cancer and cell death. The process by which protein components of repair...

Peter Wipf

Bioorganic chemistry Research in the Wipf Group focuses on the total synthesis of natural products, organometallic and heterocyclic chemistry, combinatorial, medicinal and computational chemistry. At the center of this research program...

Matthew Wohlever

Membrane Protein Quality Control, Mitochondria, Cancer, and Neurodegenerative Diseases Mitochondria are endosymbiotic organelles that serve as key hubs for apoptotic regulation, metabolism, and cellular signaling in eukaryotic cells. Over 99% of...

Yan Xu

NMR of ion channels & low-affinity drug action Research efforts in Dr. Xu's group are directed to three projects: (1); membrane protein structures and dynamics by NMR; (2); low-affinity drug interaction...

Cheng Zhang

Structural biology, pharmacology and signaling of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and drug development My group studies structure, pharmacology and signaling of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) as important cell membrane-embedded receptors. GPCR...

Huaiying Zhang

We study how macromolecules interact and condense into liquid droplets in cells to promote cellular functions. In our work, we combine optogenetic manipulation, live cell imaging, in vitro reconstitution, biophysical...

Leon Zhao

Our lab is interested in developing new tools for mapping 3D organization of biomolecules and probing biological processes in the tissue and organism. Complex biological systems are delicate machines consist of...