Alderson Lab
We are interested in intrinsically disordered protein regions and their roles in fundamental biological processes, with a focus on protein homeostasis and cell death. Our group combines experimental and computational approaches, including NMR spectroscopy, cryo-EM, structural bioinformatics, and AI-based protein structure prediction methods.
We are interested in intrinsically disordered protein regions and their roles in fundamental biological processes, with a focus on protein homeostasis and cell death. Our group combines experimental and computational approaches, including NMR spectroscopy, cryo-EM, structural bioinformatics, and AI-based methods for protein structure prediction.
About
The Alderson Lab aims to understand how proteins in the heat shock and cell death pathways sense and react to stress. Many components of these pathways oligomerize and contain intrinsically disordered regions that lack stable structures. We leverage an integrative structural biology approach that combines NMR spectroscopy, cryo-EM, and other biophysical techniques to characterize these dynamic complexes. In addition, we deploy AI-based protein structure prediction methods, with recent applications focusing on proteome-level structural bioinformatics. Ultimately, we aim to uncover the mechanisms that govern protein homeostasis and cell death, the dysregulation of which is implicated in diseases such as cancer and neurodegeneration. We seek to leverage our structural insights to identify new targets and molecular interfaces for therapeutic intervention.
Group members:
- Reid Alderson (PI)
- Alisa Dengler (PhD student, 2025 - present)
MSc, Technical University of Munich
Former group members:
- Johannes Roller: MSc internship, TUM
- Lara Lunglmeir: MSc thesis and internship, TUM
- Simon Sapozhkov: BSc thesis and internship, TUM
- Desika Kolaric: PhD student, HMGU
- Swasti Rawal
- current position: PhD student, Medical University of Graz
Join us
A PhD position in NMR-based structural biology is available!
If you are interested in our research, please email Reid with your CV,
cover letter, and contact information for two references.
Contact
