Department of Biology

About Lingling Chen

Lab

Simon Hall 301
812-856-0239
Chen Laboratory

Research

We are interested in structure and function of proteins involved in important biological processes that are related to human diseases or microbial infections. One of our projects is focused on molecular chaperone Hsp60. Hsp60 is essential for cellular viability, and its main function is to mediate folding of cellular proteins. We focus on mechanistic investigations of human mitochondrial mHsp60. Since mHsp60 is associated with various human health conditions, it has been proposed as potent drug targets and biomarkers. To provide structural basis for drug targeting, we study structure and mechanism of mHsp60 using a range of molecular biology, biochemical, and particularly structural methods of X-ray crystallography and cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo EM).