Prof. Tamir Gonen’s laboratory studies the structures of membrane proteins that are essential for maintaining cellular homeostasis. Understanding their function requires atomic structural models of proteins captured in different functional states.
In this seminar, Prof. Gonen will present the development of Microcrystal Electron Diffraction (MicroED) and demonstrate that it is possible to determine protein structures from vanishingly small crystals using electron diffraction. He will discuss recent advances in the MicroED field and show how this technique enables structure determination for novel proteins that have been beyond the reach of conventional methods.
As a case study, Prof. Gonen will focus on the small membrane protein MP20 from the eye lens and reveal an unexpected role for this protein as a tight junction protein.
About the speaker
Tamir Gonen, Ph.D., D.Sc., is a membrane biophysicist renowned for his expertise in crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM). He is a Professor of Biological Chemistry and Physiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and an affiliate at the University of Washington School of Medicine.
Prof. Gonen obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Auckland in New Zealand, followed by postgraduate training at Harvard Medical School. He launched his independent research career at the University of Washington School of Medicine, then moved to the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Janelia Research Campus, before taking up his current position at UCLA. He has served on study sections of the National Institutes of Health and as an ad hoc reviewer for multiple international funding agencies.
Prof. Gonen’s research focuses on the structural analysis of membrane proteins, and he is widely recognised for his leadership in advancing methods in structural biology. He played a pioneering role in the development of Microcrystal Electron Diffraction (MicroED), an innovation that has expanded the capabilities of cryo-EM and enabled the determination of previously unknown structures at sub-atomic resolutions. He has authored over 190 scientific publications, and many of his former trainees now hold faculty positions at leading universities worldwide.
His honours include a Career Development Award from the American Diabetes Association, an Early Career Scientist Award from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, a Technology & Innovation Award from Thermo Fisher, the A. L. Patterson Award from the American Crystallographic Association, and the Carl Brändén Award from the Protein Society. Prof. Gonen has also been awarded a Doctor of Science degree from his alma mater and is a Member of the Royal Society of New Zealand.
