Lauren Ann Metskas

Title:

Assistant Professor

PhD Granting Institution:

Yale University

Contact:

Email Address: metskas@purdue.edu
Office Phone: x44909
Lab Website Link: https://www.science.purdue.edu/metskaslab/

Primary Training Group:

Biomolecular Structure and Biophysics

Secondary Training Groups:

Chemical Biology, Microbiology, Immunology and Infectious Diseases

Research Areas:

Our group’s research focuses around functional protein ultrastructures, such as protein lattices involved in pathogen-host interaction. We use a mixture of structural biology, biophysics and chemistry to study these systems and design new experimental methods.

Current Projects:

Bacterial microcompartment organization, flavivirus-host interaction (viral entry), fluorescent labeling of viral proteins inside living cells, cryo-fluorescence methods development

Importance of Interdisciplinary Research:

Our work is at the interface of biology, chemistry and physics due to the advanced methods and analyses we employ. The Metskas lab spans the Biological Sciences and Chemistry departments, and our undergraduates and postdocs come from both these disciplines as well as physics, computer science and engineering.