Kuriyan Lab: Post-Doctoral Research

University of California, Berkeley

Department of Molecular and Cell Biology

Department of Chemistry

Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Post-doctoral researchers in the lab come from a variety of backgrounds, but share a common interest in working out molecular mechanisms in terms of three-dimensional structure. Some post-doctoral researchers in the lab come with a background in X-ray crystallography, whereas others have backgrounds in areas such as protein folding, NMR, cell biology, biophysics or computational biology.

Former post-doctoral fellows now hold faculty positions at various academic institutions, such as Gabriel Waksman at the University of London, Jennifer Martin at The University of Queensland, Jonathan Goldberg at Sloan-Kettering Institute, Frank Sicheri at The University of Toronto and Elena Conti at The Max Planck Institute. Former lab members also work in the pharmaceutical industry, such as Maria Arigiadi and Eric Goedken at Abbott, Stephen Soisson at Merck, Ann Boriack-Sjodin at Astra-Zeneca and Steven Kazmirski at Pfizer.

Our lab is part of BSMB (Biomolecular Structure and Mechanism at Berkeley)

Our lab is located on the 5th floor in Stanley Hall, pictured above.

Current Research Projects

Post-doctoral Fellows in the lab have done graduate research in various areas of biochemistry, biophysics or cell biology working on problems such as protein folding, structural biology, cell biological approaches to signaling.

Current Post-Doctoral Fellows in the Lab

Tiago Barros

BSc Biochemistry, University of Porto, Portugal (2004)

Ph.D. Max-Planck-Institute of Biophysics, Frankfurt, Germany (2009)

Advisor: Prof. Werner Kuehlbrandt Thesis: "Mechanisms of energy-transfer and conversion in plants Light-Harvesting Complex II".

EMBO Long-term fellowship (2009-2011)

Rahul Das

M.Tech. Biotechnology and Biochemical Engineering I.I.T Kharagpur, India (2000)

Ph.D. McMaster University Canada (2008)

Advisor: Dr. Giuseppe Melacini. Thesis: "Mapping cAMP Signalling by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy".

I am studying the allosteric regulation of protein tyrosine kinases.

NSERC Fellow, 2009-2011

Nick Endres

B.S. Physics UC San Diego (1995)

Ph.D. Biophysics UC San Francisco (2006)

Thesis research with Dr. Ron Vale on the mechanism of motility of the minus-end directed protein Ncd.

The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Fellow (2007-2010)

Currently interested in the structural mechanism for the regulation of proteins in the EGFR/Sos/Ras signaling pathway.

Planning on using fluorescent techniques to measure the conformation and kinetics of signaling proteins in vivo, and in vitro systems where proteins are recruited to artificial lipid vesicles or bilayers.

Jeff Iwig

B.S. Chemistry, Biology, College of William and Mary (2003)

Ph.D. Biochemistry, Washington University (2009)

Thesis: "Discovery of a novel metalloregulator family: Structure/function studies of E. coli RcnR"

Advisor: Dr. Peter Chivers

I am currently interested in the differential regulatory mechanism of Ras nucleotide exchange factors that are important for T cell selection.

Natalia Jura

M.Sc. Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland (2001)

Ph.D. Stony Brook University, NY (2006)
Advisor: Dr. Dafna Bar-Sagi.
Thesis: "Molecular characterization and functional consequences of Ras signaling".

I am interested in the mechanisms by which signaling pathways become deregulated in disease. My current studies focus on the protein kinases and in particular the structural basis for the regulation of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) kinase, whose abnormal activity is a critical driving component of many human malignancies.

Brian Kelch

B.S., Biochemistry/Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State University (1999)

Ph.D. Biochemistry, University of California, San Francisco, (2007)
Thesis Research with David Agard on the structural determinants of kinetic stability

My research is focused on understanding the mechanism of clamp loading using a variety of biophysical techniques, including single-molecule fluorescence.

Sonja Lorenz

Diploma in Biochemistry, University of Regensburg, Germany (2003):
“Multinuclear NMR Studies on the Biomineralization of Diatoms”
Advisor: Prof. Eike Brunner

PhD, University of Oxford, UK (2008):
“Structural Studies on the Paxillin Interaction Network”
Advisors: Prof. Iain Campbell and Prof. Martin Noble

Using high-resolution structural tools in combination with functional assays I investigate the role of supramolecular assemblies in determining processivity and topological specificity of ubiquitination reactions. Furthermore, I am involved in mechanistic studies on Abl kinase.

Jonathan Winger

B.A., St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN (1995)

Ph.D., University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (2004)
Advisor: Dr. Michael Marletta. Thesis: "Activation and deactivation of soluble guanylate cyclase: domain organization and the requirement for non- heme equivalents of nitric oxide"

American Heart Association Fellow (2006-2009)

Currently, I'm using biochemical and biophysical techniques to study the structural mechanisms by which a family of signaling proteins, the guanylate cyclases, are allosterically regulated.