The Right Fit

Voltage-gated calcium channels selectively permeate calcium ions in their hydrated form
Wiggle Room

Understanding Helicobacter pylori shape with computational mapping
EM is IN!

Cryo-electron microscopy is changing how we view macromolecular structures.
Primed to Cleave

Structural insights into the allosteric activation of a human deubiquitinase by two propeller proteins.

Biophysical and Structural Biology

Working at the interface of biophysics and structural biology, MCB faculty seek to understand the fundamental principles governing protein and cellular functions as well as design principles that can be exploited for synthetic biology and next generation therapeutics.

Model Curricula

Autumn

BIOC 530
Introduction to Structural Biology

winter

CONJ 544
Protein Structure, Modification and Regulation

spring

BSTR 590
Cryo-electron microscopy of biological macromolecules and complexes

NEURO 557, PBIO 557
Ion Channel Gating

Dr. David Baker, an HHMI investigator, displays a 3-D model of an engineered protein.

Modeling in Seattle

Seattle is a major center for protein structure/design and structural biology. Seattle MCB faculty are leaders in x-ray crystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), electron microscopy (EM), and small angle x-ray scattering (SAXS). Seattle MCB faculty are also at the forefront in computational design to enhance or create new protein function, and computational methods to analyze complex data sets or model single cell behavior. Visit the Institute of Protein Design to learn more about 3D protein modeling from Dr. David Baker.

Faculty Area Directors: Justin Kollman, Kelly Lee

Student Area Directors: Derrick R. Hicks, Patrick Nugent, Jilliane Bruffey

Area Of interest Faculty

Lab Openings

Asbury Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

mitosis, kinetochore, chromosome, motor protein, mechanobiology, optical tweezer, single molecule biophysics

Hague Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Baker Lab:
All Quarters

Daggett Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

computational, protein dynamics, disease, amyloid, protein design, functional amyloid

Avgousti Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Chromatin, adenovirus, herpesvirus, histones

Maly Lab:
Autumn, Spring, Winter, Permanent Position

maly dj

Veesler Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Cryo-electron microscopy, viruses, viral fusion proteins, bacterial secretion systems, ion channels,vaccine design, structure-based drug design

Smith Lab:
All Quarters

DNA break repair, genetic recombination

Gu Lab:
Autumn, Spring, Winter, Permanent Position

Protein-protein interaction, Protein Barcoding, In Situ Sequencing

Gumbiner Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Cell Adhesion,morphogenesis,metastasis,cadherin,catenin,epithelial,endothelial,inflammation,Wnt,Hippo,Yap

Henikoff Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Chromatin, Transcription, Centromeres, Evolution

Bai Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Brain, neuron, synapse, neurotransmitter, endocytosis, exocytosis, C. elegans,

Kollman Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Cryo-EM, structural biology, cytoskeleton, metabolism, X-ray crystallography, electron microscopy

Mullins Lab:
Autumn, Spring, Winter, Permanent Position

hiv, siv, fiv, felv, HHV-8, KSHV, pathogenesis, vaccine, reservoirs, computational biology

Lee Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Virus, membrane fusion, cryo-EM, glycoproteins, dynamics, structure, HIV, influenza, membranes, fusion proteins, vaccines, antibodies, immunology, transmission, mass spectrometry

Klevit Lab:
Spring, Permanent Position

protein ubiquitination, small heat shock proteins, intrinscially disordered proteins, NMR

Wang Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

membrane protein, ion channels, cryo-EM, structure, lipid environment

McGuire Lab:
Autumn, Summer, Winter, Permanent Position

Antibodies, vaccines, HIV-1, EBV

Merz Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

membrane, cell, organelle, endosome, lysosome, golgi, fusion, SNARE, Rab, tether, biophysics, genetics, yeast, Saccharomyces

Mougous Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

bacteria, microbiome, pathogenesis, signaling, protein secretion, regulation

King Lab:
Spring, Winter, Permanent Position

Zheng Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Ubiquitin, ubiquitin ligase, protein degradation, plant hormone, drug discovery, crystallography, structural biology, ion channel, transporter, circadian clock, cullin-RING ligases, F-box proteins,

Bradley Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

RNA splicing, nonsense-mediated decay, myelodysplastic syndromes, leukemia, cancer, muscular dystrophy, FSHD

Biggins Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

chromosomes, spindle checkpoint, centromere, microtubules, kinetochore, histone variants, tension, aneuploidy

Gordon Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Membrane Biophysics, Ion Channels, Protein Dynamics and Energetics

Hahn Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

transcription, gene regulation, genomics, structure, coactivator, RNA polymerase, biochemistry

Ong Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Quantitative proteomics, SILAC, Cancer, Proteogenomics

Shechner Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Nuclear architecture, Noncoding RNAs, ncRNA, chromatin, nucleolus, RNA structure and function, RNA localization, technology development

Zagotta Lab:
Spring, Winter, Permanent Position

Ion channels, electrophysiology, fluorescence spectroscopy, FRET, X-ray crystallography, protein structure

News & Events

Upcoming Event

Currently no scheduled event for Biophysical and Structural Biology. Please review the calendar for a full list of upcoming events.

The Right Fit

Wiggle Room

EM is IN!

Primed to Cleave