Eva-Maria Strauch, PhD
Associate Professor of Medicine, Molecular Microbiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics
- Email: evas@nospam.wustl.edu
The Strauch Lab uses both computational and experimental methodologies to understand, inhibit and re-purpose biological processes on the protein level. The main focus of Dr. Strauch’s research is on how to diagnose, prevent and treat viral infections with the aim to generate new antivirals and candidates for vaccination through protein design. For that, her lab develops and uses new cutting-edge technologies involving structural design as well as pooled oligo-synthesis and next-generation sequencing. While her team in the lab studies viral surface proteins principally to understand how they can target them or provide new immunogens, they also seek to shed light on how protein chemistry is involved in making viruses so successful. Viruses and their surface proteins hold the molecuar keys for identifying speciic host cells, entering them and re-programming them — much of what is needed to fight cancer.
- B.Sc. equivalent, Biochemistry, Julius-Maximilians Universität, Würzburg, Germany
- M.A. in Biochemistry, University of Texas at Austin
- Ph.D. in Biochemistry, University of Texas at Austin
- Postdoctoral training, University of Washington
- 2007 Travel Award for the “SBE’s First International Conference on Biomolecular Engineering”
- 2007 Professional Development Award, Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry, UT Austin
- 2009-2012 Career Development Award, NW Regional Center of Excellence (NIAID/NIH)
- 2017 Foresight Fellow for catalyzing future technology (Foresight Institute)
- 2018 Washington Research Foundation Award
- 2022 Protein Society Travel Award
- Systematic computer-aided disulfide design as a general strategy to stabilize prefusion class I fusion proteins.Gonzalez KJ, Yim KC, Blanco JCG, Boukhvalova MS, Strauch EM.Front Immunol. 2024 Jul 24;15:1406929. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1406929. eCollection 2024.PMID: 39114655
- A general computational design strategy for stabilizing viral class I fusion proteins. Gonzalez KJ, Huang J, Criado MF, Banerjee A, Tompkins SM, Mousa JJ, Strauch EM.Nat Commun. 2024 Feb 13;15(1):1335. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-45480-z.PMID: 38351001
- Sampling of structure and sequence space of small protein folds. Linsky TW, Noble K, Tobin AR, Crow R, Carter L, Urbauer JL, Baker D, Strauch EM.Nat Commun. 2022 Nov 22;13(1):7151. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-34937-8.PMID: 36418330
- Deep learning of protein sequence design of protein-protein interactions. Syrlybaeva R, Strauch EM.Bioinformatics. 2023 Jan 1;39(1):btac733. doi: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btac733.PMID: 36377772
- Inhibition of a malaria host-pathogen interaction by a computationally designed inhibitor. Tobin AR, Crow R, Urusova DV, Klima JC, Tolia NH, Strauch EM.Protein Sci. 2023 Jan;32(1):e4507. doi: 10.1002/pro.4507.PMID: 36367441
- Design of protein-binding proteins from the target structure alone. Cao L, Coventry B, Goreshnik I, Huang B, Sheffler W, Park JS, Jude KM, Marković I, Kadam RU, Verschueren KHG, Verstraete K, Walsh STR, Bennett N, Phal A, Yang A, Kozodoy L, DeWitt M, Picton L, Miller L, Strauch EM, DeBouver ND, Pires A, Bera AK, Halabiya S, Hammerson B, Yang W, Bernard S, Stewart L, Wilson IA, Ruohola-Baker H, Schlessinger J, Lee S, Savvides SN, Garcia KC, Baker D.Nature. 2022 May;605(7910):551-560. doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-04654-9. Epub 2022 Mar 24.PMID: 35332283