As a student in NYU Grossman School of Medicine’s Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics PhD Training Program, you have access to laboratories in which researchers are investigating essential biological processes. Our program encourages collaboration between students and mentoring faculty, whose expertise includes signal transduction, membrane transport, protein folding and design, and the structure and function of nucleic acids.

Our faculty research projects provide opportunities for you to participate in methodologies involving biophysics, biochemistry, chemical biology, structural biology, computational biology, and bioinformatics. Some laboratories use X-ray crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance to reveal the structure of individual protein molecules in atomic detail. Others use mass spectroscopy to identify post-translational modification or, together with bioinformatics, quantify the proteome.

Electron microscopy can define the organization of proteins within large macromolecular complexes. Computational methods can identify surfaces involved in protein–protein interactions, and MRI can enable researchers to observe the progression of genetic defects in a developing embryo. Biophysics, biochemistry, and single-molecule imaging provide other ways of evaluating protein structure and link it with molecular function.

The following are examples of the kind of research conducted in our labs.

Activation of T-cell Signaling by Antigenic Peptides
Laboratory of Michelle Krogsgaard, PhD

Fragment-Centric Topographical Mapping to Target Protein–Protein Interaction Interfaces
Laboratory of Paramjit Arora, PhD

Crystal Structure of a Bacterial Carboxylate Transporter, VcINDY
Laboratory of Da-Neng Wang, PhD

Hydrosulfide Ion Channel from Clostridium difficile
Laboratory of Da-Neng Wang, PhD

Model for Double Strand Breaks Repair via Non-Homologous End Joining
Laboratory of Eli Rothenberg, PhD

Molecular Basis for Pseudokinase-Dependent Autoinhibition of JAK2 Tyrosine Kinase
Laboratory of Stevan Hubbard, PhD

Molecular Studies of Chromatin Structure and Epigenetics
Laboratory of Karim-Jean Armache, PhD

Protein–Protein Interactions Mediated by Helical Tertiary Structure Motifs
Laboratory of Paramjit Arora, PhD

RNA–Protein Interactions in Fragile X Syndrome
Laboratory of Alexander Serganov, PhD

V3 Loop from HIV-1 gp120​
Laboratory of Xiangpeng Kong, PhD