Home | Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics | Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

Welcome to the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics

As one of the first departments of Biochemistry and Biophysics in the nation, we are proud of our strong tradition of combining cutting-edge technology with impactful biology. We continue to leverage this interdisciplinary approach to yield break-through discoveries in biomedicine.

Our faculty of over 30 primary and secondary members cover a broad range of research areas, with particular strengths in structural biology, chemical biology, gene regulation and protein folding.

We are also the proud home of the Eldridge Reeves Johnson Research Foundation which offers advanced physical instrumentation and instruction to researchers across campus.

We are actively growing, with several recent hires, and our faculty are broadly engaged across campus with many joint appointments in other departments, institutes and centers.

We welcome you to learn more about our department in the following pages or contact us.

Titan Krios...
Installation Phase One

News & Publications

Vinogradov Lab in Cell Metabolism
January 2019
Sergei Vinogradov and lab develop a new faster oxygen sensor able to monitor oxygen metabolism deep in tissues.
Garcia, Black, and Englander labs in Structure
November 2018
The Garcia, Black and Englander labs combine forces to achieve a high-resolution view of histone tail dynamics during nucleosome assembly
Sellmyer received NIH award
October 2018
Mark Sellmyer received NIH Director's Early Independence Award for developing small molecule tools for molecular-imaging
Black in Developmental Cell
October 2018
Ben Black and colleagues determine how centromeres are maintained through DNA replication

Seminars & Events

Raiziss Seminar | Jerry Workman, PhD
Thursday, Feb 14, 2019 • 12 noon | Austrian Auditorium, CRB
Protein complexes that modify histones for transcription
Friday Research Discussion | Brass Lab
Friday, Feb 15, 2019 • 3:30 pm | JF Library, Anatomy-Chemistry Bldg, 2nd floor
Mice and machines: Using a hybrid experimental and computational approach to understand why bleeding stops in humans

Faculty Spotlight

Walter Englander, PhD

Walter Englander is the emeritus Gershon-Cohen Professor of Biophysics and Medical Science and a member of the National Academy of Sciences and The American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His lab led the development of the hydrogen exchange field for protein biophysical studies, discovered the role of cooperative foldon units in protein structure and folding, developed the defined pathway model to explain how proteins fold, and invented and developed the leading-edge technology of hydrogen exchange mass spectrometry (HX/MS). His lab is actively involved in protein folding studies and in the function of large energy-driven protein machines like heat shock protein 104.