The Berndsen Lab
Lipoprotein biophysics and structure-based vaccine design
Lipoprotein biophysics and structure-based vaccine design
We use cryo-electron microscopy together with biochemical and computational methods to determine the structures of large, flexible biomolecules involved in human disease. Our work centers on apolipoprotein B100 and the lipoproteins it organizes, and on viral and bacterial antigens as targets for vaccine design.
How apoB100 organizes LDL, VLDL and related particles, and how disease-associated variants change that structure.
Cryo-EM of viral surface glycoproteins and the antibodies that target them, from the HIV Env glycan shield to influenza hemagglutinin.
Structures of adhesins and secreted proteases from enterotoxigenic E. coli and Shigella, and of the antibodies that block them.
FEATURED · NATURE, 2024
The first structure of apoB100 on human LDL, determined by combining cryo-EM, AlphaFold2 and molecular dynamics-based refinement.
Featured in Nature News & Views, Nature Reviews Cardiology, Google DeepMind, and the RCSB PDB Molecule of the Month.
We welcome inquiries from prospective graduate students, postdocs and undergraduates.
zberndsen@missouri.edu · Stephens Hall, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211