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

Wilusz Lab in Genes & Development
June 2019
Ribosome queuing enables non-AUG translation to be resistant to multiple protein synthesis inhibitors
Marmorstein and Petersson Labs in Structure
May 2019
Structure and Mechanism of Acetylation by the N-Terminal Dual Enzyme NatA/Naa50 Complex
Garcia Lab in Genome Research
May 2019
One minute analysis of 200 histone posttranslational modifications by direct injection mass spectrometry
Sharp and Harvey Labs in Biophysical Journal
April 2019
DNA Conformational Changes Play a Force-Generating Role during Bacteriophage Genome Packaging

Seminars & Events

Special Seminar | Mariana Torrente, PhD
Monday, June 17 • 11:00 a.m. | Reunion Auditorium, John Morgan Building
A Missing Piece of the Puzzle: Aberrant Histone Modification Landscapes in Neurodegenerative Disease
Thesis Defense | Korrie Mack
Tuesday, June 18 • 1:00 p.m. | Reunion Auditorium, John Morgan Building
Engineering protein disaggregases to counter alpha-synuclein and amyloid-beta neurotoxicity

Faculty Spotlight

Rahul Kohli, MD, PhD

Rahul Kohli is a physician-scientist with appointments in both the Department of Medicine and the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics. The Kohli lab is focused on the study of enzymes that modify and mutate DNA, given the central role that genome dynamics play in epigenetics and in host-pathogen interactions. These processes are open to interrogation by enzymology and chemical biology approaches. The lab also aims to harness the biotechnological or therapeutic potential of DNA altering enzymes and pathways, with applications that include new sequencing methodologies, targeted genome editing, and combating the evolution of antibiotic resistance. Dr. Kohli is passionate about supporting pathways that meld fundamental science and medicine, and in this spirit, also serves as an Associate Program Director for Penn’s MD/PhD program.