Eric Greene

Education

BA: Molecular, Cellular, and Development Biology - University of Colorado Boulder
BA: Biochemistry - University of Colorado Boulder
Ph.D.: Molecular and Cell Biology – University of California Berkeley
Postdoc: Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences – University of California San Francisco

Research

The Greene lab is interested in answering fundamental questions about how biological molecules work. Our research utilizes biochemical tools and cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) to visualize and understand complex protein machines. Using cryo-EM we are able to ‘see’ individual proteins and characterize how these proteins change as a function of various factors. One of our primary goals is to determine how crucial metabolic enzymes are regulated to control the flow of nutrients in a cell. Projects include enzymes that are implicated in various cancers for which both inhibitors and activators carry therapeutic potential as well as exploring fascinating enzymes from extremophiles (organisms that thrive in harsh conditions) which may provide new tools for synthetic biology - the scientific field of transforming microbes into synthetic chemists. Finally, we apply our high-resolution cryo-EM expertise to study amyloid structures—protein forms implicated in neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease—to understand the precise relationship between the mechanism of protein aggregation and the final structure of the resulting amyloid fibril.

Check out our lab website for more information: https://www.egreenelab.org/ and you can find Dr. Greene on BlueSky @egreene.bsky.social and review publications/presentations on Google Scholar. 

The Greene Lab’s goal is to understand how protein motions contribute to enzyme catalysis, regulation, and protein turnover for large enzyme complexes by combining cryoEM with enzymology techniques. Please visit our website for more information and current research opportunities!