In the Tullman-Ercek lab, we study highly organized, self-assembling protein systems – the nanoscale building blocks of biology.
Such systems abound in the living world, and the resulting assemblies govern critical processes at all levels of life, from the formation of virus capsids to the transport of oxygen in the blood. The Tullman-Ercek lab is interested in 1) What fundamental principles govern the precise organization of proteins at the nanoscale? 2) How does organization of biochemical processes enhance their performance? 3) How can we manipulate these protein assemblies to gain new or enhanced functions in living and non-living systems? Our current model systems include protein containers such as the MS2 viral capsid and bacterial organelles called microcompartments, and membrane protein machines such as the type III secretion system. For more information, check out our research page.
Recent Announcements
| 2024 Aug 3 | Matthew Lucia is selected as a Synthetic Biology Across Scales trainee, and Madeline Mills is selected as a Biotechnology Training Program cluster member. Congratulation Matthew and Madeline! |
| 2024 Jun 17 | Undergraduate students George Magoola (SynBREA), Natalia Barna (DeFeo Foundation URI), Grace Hancock, and Yaleska Sosa-Azcarraga (NU Bioscientist program) join the lab for the summer. |
| 2024 Apr 4 | Annie Gomez is selected for an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Congratulations Annie! |
| 2024 Jan 4 | DTE lab welcomes Ph.D. students Matthew Lucia (co-advised with the Kamat lab) and Madeline Mills to join our group. Dhanvi Vemulapalli will also be continuing in our lab as a Ph.D. student after completing his master’s degree! |
| 2023 Dec 10 | Dr. Carolyn Mills leaves our lab to become an Assistant Professor of Biological Engineering at UC Santa Barbara. Congratulations, Carrie, and we will miss you! |
| 2023 Sep 1 | DTE lab welcomes Master’s in Biotechnology student Weronika Ptaszek and postdoctoral fellow Yu Liu to join our group. |
| 2023 Aug 16 | Congratulations to Dhanvi Vemulapalli on passing his master’s defense! |
| 2023 Aug 3 | Annie Gomez is selected as a Synthetic Biology Across Scales trainee, Shiqi Liang is selected as a Molecular Biophysics Training Program trainee, and Rogelio Alvarado is selected as a Biotechnology Training Program cluster member. Congratulations Annie, Shiqi, and Roger! |
| 2023 Jun 19 | Undergraduate students Lee Bristol (SynBREU) and Abi Lopez Alonso (CLP summer student) and MRSEC RET teacher Tiffany Johnson join the lab for the summer. |
| 2023 Jun 9 | Congratulations to our Master’s in Biotechnology students, Emily Gamero and Ashleigh Acker, on their graduation! |
| 2023 Jun 1 | DTE lab welcomes Ph.D. students Shiqi Liang, Jake Miller, and Rogelio Alvarado to join our group. |
| 2023 Apr 7 | Congratulations to Dr. Julie Ming Liang on passing her Ph.D. defense! |
| 2023 Mar 29 | Maddie Joseph is selected for an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Congratulations Maddie! |
| 2023 Feb 14 | Julie’s paper about on constitutively active type III secretion systems was published in Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology |
| 2023 Feb 14 | Congratulations to Dr. Nolan Kennedy on passing his Ph.D. defense! |
| 2023 Feb 6 | Professor Tullman-Ercek is named co-director of Northwestern’s Center for Synthetic Biology! |
| 2023 Jan 4 | Bon’s paper about systematic engineering of virus-like particles was published in Virology |
| 2022 Dec 15 | DTE lab welcomes Ph.D. students Maddie Joseph (co-advised with the Dunn lab) and Annie Gomez (co-advised with the Olvera de la Cruz lab) to join our group. |
All announcements can be found here.