The School of Molecular & Cellular Biology is pleased to announce that Emad Tajkhorshid, J. Woodland Hastings Endowed Chair and Professor of Biochemistry, has been awarded a 2027 Biophysical Society Fellowship. He is one of five researchers worldwide who received the distinction.
Dr. Tajkhorshid is one of the world’s pre-eminent experts in developing computational methods to characterize the structure and function of cellular membranes and membrane proteins.
As a faculty member of both the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology and Department of Biochemistry in the School of MCB, Tajkhorshid’s lab has produced “detailed microscopic [views] of structural and dynamical bases underlying biological function” in cells using advanced computational techniques.
In one recent paper, Tajkhorshid’s group used a “molecular dynamic simulation” to aid in the discovery of a new family of membrane transport proteins in E. coli. The simulation involved calculating the membrane system’s forces on an atomic level and then translating that motion into how the protein system functions.
In addition to the Biophysical Society Fellowship, Tajkhorshid has received the Faculty Excellence Award from the School of MCB, the NIH Transformative Award, and had one of the University’s top tenure packages in 2010. He has authored nearly 300 research articles, has over 37,000 citations, and gives lectures around the world.
The Biophysical Society was founded in 1958 and has 6,000 members. It awards its fellowships to “distinguished members who have demonstrated excellence in science and contributed to the expansion of the field of biophysics,” according to its website.
Tajkhorshid and the other four Biophysical Society Fellows will be honored at a ceremony in February in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
