Structural Biology | Research Interests

Name	Email	PhD Program
Fisher, Caleb EMAIL	PHD PROGRAM RESEARCH INTEREST Biochemistry, Bioinformatics, Structural Biology	“Broadly, I have an interest in studying enzymology and structural biology to answer questions related to immune and metabolism diseases such as cancer. I think that advancing our understanding of such diseases requires structure-function studies of large protein families, such as GPCRS, to be driven by bioinformatics paired with fundamental biochemistry. A particular question I’m curious about is how the structure of such enzymes contribute to the big-picture of cellular dynamics? More specifically, how does regulation of enzymes change their structural dynamics and how does this fit into the big-picture phenomena of disease?”
Novy, Brandon EMAIL	PHD PROGRAM RESEARCH INTEREST Biochemistry, Cell Biology, Structural Biology	“My main interests lie in studying dynamic protein complexes through a structural lens. I have really enjoyed investigating the structure/function relationship of proteins implicated in cellular trafficking and am excited to continue studying the molecular architecture of cell biology.”
Oguche, Solomon EMAIL	PHD PROGRAM RESEARCH INTEREST Biophysics, Computational Biology, Structural Biology	“I am interested in understanding the underlying principles of protein engineering and design (PED). My goal is to utilize computational and experimental tools with the understanding of PED principles in developing novel protein-based therapeutics against human diseases.”
Funk, Adam EMAIL	PHD PROGRAM RESEARCH INTEREST Drug Discovery, Pharmacology, Structural Biology	“I am interested in using computational drug discovery and structural biology to guide the process of drug discovery and pharmacological characterization of novel drugs. I would like to combine both wet lab techniques and computational analyses to guide my experimental work.”
Arango, Maria EMAIL	PHD PROGRAM RESEARCH INTEREST Biophysics, Drug Discovery, Structural Biology	“Interested in pursuing research that focuses on using biophysical methods to answer and elucidate structures of protein/small molecule that can be used a potential therapeutic and has wide applications in medicine. Also interested in protein design and gaining computation skills to potentially design proteins from scratch.”
Montore, Luca EMAIL	PHD PROGRAM RESEARCH INTEREST Metabolism, Neurobiology, Structural Biology	“I am interested in exploring multiple different types of research including structural biology, neurobiology, and metabolism. I want to be a part of research that focus on the dynamic interactions within the body and relate to overall human and environmental health.”
Guardia, Charly WEBSITE EMAIL PUBLICATIONS	PHD PROGRAM Cell Biology & Physiology RESEARCH INTEREST Biochemistry, Cell Biology, Developmental Biology, Developmental Disorders, Disease, Metabolism, Microscopy/Imaging, Molecular Mechanisms of Disease, Physiology, Structural Biology	The human placenta is the first organ to develop after fertilization and is the least studied! We hope to change this by using a multidisciplinary approach. From iPSC-derived trophoblasts in culture to mouse models and human placenta tissue, the Placental Cell Biology Group at NIEHS answers fundamental questions about placenta cell and developmental biology. Our lab uses a range of microscopy (cryo-EM, fluorescence), recombinant protein production, and -omics techniques. The goal of our research is to understand how autophagy controls placenta development, differentiation, and function.
Kratochvil, Huong WEBSITE EMAIL PUBLICATIONS	PHD PROGRAM Chemistry RESEARCH INTEREST Biophysics, Chemical Biology, Structural Biology	We take inspiration from Nature to build new proteins that guide our understanding of how natural proteins function: we can distill complex natural proteins into simple model proteins where we have exact control over the physicochemical properties of the entire system. Our group combines protein design strategies with biochemistry, biophysics, and structural biology to 1) test mechanistic hypotheses of membrane protein structure and function, and 2) define novel protein-protein interactions in immunology for engineering protein-based therapeutics.
Starbird, Chrystal EMAIL PUBLICATIONS	PHD PROGRAM Biochemistry & Biophysics RESEARCH INTEREST Cancer Signaling & Biochemistry, Molecular Mechanisms of Disease, Structural Biology	Our lab is interested in understanding the structural basis for activation of cell surface receptors. Using a combination of biochemistry, structural biology and cell biology, we seek to understand how the membrane environment and receptor:ligand interactions are modulated to generate the wide diversity of signaling regulated by these receptors, and how these interactions are modified in disease.
Berlow, Rebecca WEBSITE EMAIL PUBLICATIONS	PHD PROGRAM Biochemistry & Biophysics RESEARCH INTEREST Biochemistry, Biophysics, Cancer Biology, Molecular Medicine, Structural Biology	Our lab is interested in the molecular mechanisms of adaptive stress responses. These responses to environmental or metabolic stress are essential for survival but frequently dysregulated in disease. We use an integrated approach combining biophysical, structural, and biochemical methods to investigate the roles of intrinsically disordered proteins and dynamic enzymes that orchestrate these critical stress responses, with the ultimate goal of developing new approaches for modulating the functions of dynamic molecules.

Research Interest: Structural Biology