Principal Investigator
Dan Herschlag
(he/him/his)
herschla[at]stanford.edu
B471A, Beckman Center
Professor Daniel Herschlag, Ph.D., is a Professor of Biochemistry and, by courtesy, of Chemical Engineering. The overarching goal of his research is to understand the fundamental behavior of RNA and proteins and, in turn, how these behaviors determine and impact biology and how it has evolved. His lab takes an interdisciplinary approach, spanning and integrating physics, chemistry and biology, and employing a wide range of techniques.
Dan has been at Stanford for 30 years, following graduate work at Brandeis with W.P. Jencks and postdoctoral work at the University of Colorado with Tom Cech. He has identified new concepts in macromolecular folding, in RNA and protein catalysis, and in molecular evolution, and he has uncovered new principles of cellular RNA processing and organization. His research has been highly collaborative and multi-disciplinary. Dan has been recognized at Stanford and nationally for his mentoring, and is passionate about graduate education and postdoctoral training. Former trainees include faculty at research and teaching institutions, scientists in biotechnology, and individuals who have pursued creative career paths.
Research Associate
Fanny Sundén
fsunden[at]stanford.edu
Graduate Students
Home Program: Chemistry
Research Interests: Enzyme catalysis, hydrogen bond geometry and energetics, conformational ensembles
Siyuan Du
(she/her/hers)
dusiyuan[at]stanford.edu
John Hyunjoon Shin
(he/him/his)
jshin029[at]stanford.edu
Home Program: Chemical Engineering
Research Interests: RNA structure, RNA fold prediction, conformational ensembles
Gabe Tauber
(he/him/his)
gatauber[at]stanford.edu
Home Program: Biochemistry
Research Interests: RNA-protein interactions, RNA structure, RNA biology, and in vivo biochemistry
Postdoctoral Associates
Research Interests: Enzyme catalysis and promiscuity, enzyme evolution, allostery, genetic code expansion
Joint appointment with Fordyce Lab
Patrick Almhjell
(he/him/his)
almhjell[at]stanford.edu
Research Interests: Enzyme catalysis, ensemble-function analysis, ribozymes, chemical origins of life
Prathamesh Datar
(he/him/his)
pmdatar@stanford.edu
Research Interests: RNA biology, RNA-protein interactions, RNA structure and dynamics in cells
Jimin Yoon
(she/her/hers)
jiyoon[at]stanford.edu
Albert Lee
(he/him/his)
ayhlee[at]stanford.edu
Research Interests: Enzyme catalysis, protein allostery, conformational ensembles, protein evolution
Joint appointment with Polly Fordyce Lab
Research Interests: RNA biology, protein-RNA interactions, computational modeling
Joint appointment with Aaron Hoskins Labs
Collaborating Graduate Students
Jassmin Deng
she/her/hers
yutingde[at]andrew.cmu.edu
Home Program: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University
Research Interests: machine learning, computational modeling, protein evolution
Home Program: Biomedical Informatics
Research Interests: High-dimensional statistics and machine learning; to develop computational approaches to quantitatively understand protein mechanisms, predict protein functions, and optimize protein design
Daisy Ding
she/her/hers
dingd[at]stanford.edu
Hanon McShea
mcshea[at]stanford.edu
Home Program: Earth System Science
Research Interests: Protein evolution, long-timescale evolutionary dynamics
Abby Thurm
she/her/hers
athurm[at]stanford.edu
Home Program: Medical Scientist Training Program and Biophysics
Research Interests: RNA in gene expression, RNA-protein interactions, high-throughput in vivo measurements