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More than 60% of current drug targets are membrane proteins, which come in the form of enzymes, receptors, channels, and transporters. This underlines the biomedical relevance of our research into the function of membrane proteins and lipids.

Our research is highly interdisciplinary and collaborative. Our group members typically have backgrounds in fields such as physical chemistry, chemical biology, biochemistry, physics, and various engineering disciplines, and we collaborate with multiple different groups in our department, elsewhere on campus, or at nearby research institutions.

Specifically, we are interested in the function of lipid transporters (flippases) and how these can be modulated through photopharmacology, the structure and function of proteins involved in endocytosis (using techniques such as Cryo Electron Tomography and various fluorescence labeling, microscopy, and spectroscopy approaches), the function of intrinsically disordered proteins on membranes (using 2D NMR spectroscopy and various fluorescence techniques), all complemented with micromanipulation techniques and interpretation with thermodynamic and statistical mechanical models and simulations. A recent development in our lab has been to ask to what extent and by what mechanisms protein-protein liquid phase separation, referred to as LLPS, contributes to some of these phenomena.

We are always looking for kind, caring, and highly curious team members. We have a long-standing and continuous tradition of including undergraduate students in our research, which provides mentoring opportunities for more senior co-workers and an embedding into an ambitious research team for undergraduate scientists. If you are interested, feel free to drop us an informal note at:

baumgart@sas.upenn.edu