Han Lab
Principal Investigator: Songi Han
Institution: Northwestern University (Chicago, IL)
Primary Subfield: Molecular & Cell Bio
Recruitment Status: Inquire for rotation/fellowship opportunities
Research Focus
PROJECT SUMMARY This proposal describes the core research program of the Han laboratory that focuses on uncovering and utilizing water as essential building blocks to gain a fundamentally new perspective on the magnitude and nature of protein structure and function. The research program encompasses four distinct research projects on (i) the water-directed assembly of shape-specific pathological tau prions, (ii) the action map of light-active flavonoid proteins in the LOV family that are widely used as nano-sensors, (iii) the role of liquid water structuring at the interface between biomolecules displaying antifreeze and recrystallization inhibition behavior and ice, and (iv) the role of long-range water ordering near membrane surfaces in protein function. The key questions and challenges to be addressed include the fundamental mechanisms that initiate and guide the assembly of tau into target folds within fibril structure while maintaining their seeding activity, the mechanistic and molecular basis of anti-freeze strategies in nature-derived or synthetic antifreeze molecules, and the molecular basis of the mechanical actuation of light-active flavinoid proteins in the LOV family, f…
Active NIH Awards
- 2R35GM136411-07: Water as essential building blocks to direct protein structure and function (2026)
- 5R35GM136411-06: MIRA: Uncover Design Rules for Interaction and Assembly of Nature’s Molecular Machines (2024)
Explore 700+ US Biology Labs on FindBioLabs.com