Welcome to the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics
Chair
Vice Chair
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.
We are excited to announce the return of biomolecular NMR to PSOM with our new state-of-the-art nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) system now up and running! Read more about the equipment and how it's being used here. Thank you to Nik Sgourakis and his team for all their efforts in rebuilding NMR expertise here at Penn and CHOP.
News & Publications
- Garcia Lab in Journal of Proteome Research
March 2021
Improved SILAC Quantification with Data-Independent Acquisition to Investigate Bortezomib-Induced Protein Degradation - Heidi Elashal awarded NSF Fellowship
March 2021
Elashal, Liu Lab member and BMB student, received NSF Grad Research Fellowship - Daniela Fera named a 2021 Cottrell Scholar
March 2021
Congratulations Daniela Fera, honored for making an impact on science, on students, and across academia. - Sharp Lab in Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling
March 2021
Computational Graphics Software for Interactive Docking and Visualization of Ligand-Protein Complementarity
Seminars & Events
- BMB Lab Rotation Talks
Fri, April 9, 2021 | 3:00 pm • on BlueJeans
- Raiziss Rounds | Brian D. Strahl, PhD
Thurs, April 15, 2021 | 12 noon on Bluejeans
Transcriptional control by histone readers and writers - Friday Research Discussions | Marmorstein Lab
Fri, April 16, 2021 | 4:00 pm • on Bluejeans
Faculty Spotlight
Nikolaos Sgourakis
Welcome our newest Associate Professor, Nikolaos Sgourakis, also an Associate Professor in the Center for Computational & Genomic Medicine at CHOP. His laboratory investigates molecular mechanisms which drive adaptive responses and maintain immune homeostasis. To do this, they integrate NMR with computational modeling and functional immunoassays. One direction focuses on the selection of peptide antigens displayed by the proteins of the Major Histocompatibility Complex for surveillance by T cells and Natural Killer cells. Their detailed characterization of peptide editing by molecular chaperones has recently enabled a powerful platform for analyzing T cell repertoires relevant in immuno-oncology and immunotherapy. In a synergistic direction, the lab characterizes neuroblastoma-associated antigens to guide CAR T cell therapies in close collaboration with the lab of Cancer Biologist and Pediatric Oncologist John Maris. (Publication highlights)