The Computational Structural Biology Section, led by NIH Investigator Dr. Lucy R. Forrest, uses computational approaches to study proteins that exist in cell membranes. We are particularly interested in understanding the function of coupled transporter proteins through an understanding of their structure. We also develop methods to better enable the prediction of functionally important properties of such proteins - see our Resources page for more details.
The group was set up in the Max Planck Institute for Biophysics in Frankfurt, Germany, in 2007, and moved to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, MD, USA in 2013. Please also see Dr. Forrest's profile at NINDS - with information about Research Interests.
Dr. Forrest received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Oxford. Subsequent to receiving her Ph.D. degree, she carried out postdoctoral research at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, at the Medical Research Council Dunn Human Nutrition Unit, Cambridge, UK and at Columbia University, New York, NY. From 2007, Dr. Forrest was Max Planck Research Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysics in Frankfurt, Germany. In August 2013, Dr. Forrest joined NINDS, where she was granted tenure and promoted to Senior Investigator in 2017. Her laboratory at the NIH focuses on important questions relating to membrane proteins, spanning specific mechanisms of individual proteins through to general biophysical principles. Her research tools are computational, and her studies are designed to inspire clear hypotheses, which are tested in close collaboration with experimental laboratories.