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.
News & Publications
- Collaborative Paper from Black Lab in Nature Communications
November 2021
HPF1 dynamically controls the PARP1/2 balance between initiating and elongating ADP-ribose modifications - Burslem Lab in RSC Medicinal Chemistry
August 2021
Photochemical synthesis of an epigenetic focused tetrahydroquinoline library - Black Lab in Cell Reports
November 2021
Gene replacement strategies validate the use of functional tags on centromeric chromatin and invalidate an essential role for CENP-A K124ub - Marmorstein & Shorter Labs in Journal of Biological Chemistry
October 2021
N-alpha-acetylation of Huntingtin protein increases its propensity to aggregate
Seminars & Events
- Faculty Search Seminar | Shuo Han, PhD
Tues, December 7, 2021 • 2:00pm | BRB Gaulton Auditorium
A metabolomics pipeline for the mechanistic interrogation of the gut microbiome - Raiziss Rounds Seminar | Lewis E. Kay, PhD
Thurs, December 9, 2021 • Noon | Virtual on BlueJeans
The importance of protein dynamics in health and disease - Friday Research Discussions | Cherry & Kohli Labs
Fri, December 10, 2021 • 4pm | Virtual on BlueJeans
Iulia Tapescu (Cherry Lab) & Juan Serrano (Kohli Lab) - Faculty Search Seminar | Daniel L. Kober, PhD
Tues, December 14, 2021 • 2:00pm | BRB Gaulton Auditorium
A metabolomics pipeline for the mechanistic interrogation of the gut microbiome
Faculty Spotlight
James Shorter
James Shorter is a Professor in the Department. The Shorter lab uses diverse techniques to pioneer protein disaggregases, small-molecule drugs, and RNAs to counter deleterious phase transitions in neurodegenerative disease. In an exciting study published in eLife, Dr. Shorter and colleagues discovered a human mitochondrial protein disaggregase, Skd3 (human ClpB), which is a AAA+ protein related to Hsp104. Skd3 maintains the solubility of several critical mitochondrial proteins. Importantly, Skd3 variants linked to 3-methylglutaconic aciduria, a severe mitochondrial disorder, display diminished disaggregase activity, which predicts disease severity. Moreover, in a recent study published in Blood, dominant-negative mutations in Skd3 were connected to severe congenital neutropenia. Thus, Skd3 is a potent protein disaggregase critical for human health.