The Department of Chemical Physiology and Biochemistry welcomes its newest faculty member, Steve Reichow, Ph.D., Associate Professor on October 1, 2022.

Research in the Reichow Lab is inspired by the molecular mechanisms driving biology. We apply cutting-edge methods in the high-resolution imaging technology of cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), to unveil the inner-workings of individual protein molecules – nature’s nano-machines. 

We specialize in the mechanisms of membrane channel gating and cell-signaling events that orchestrate a wide range of physiological processes: from coordinating the rhythm of our heartbeat, to providing our senses to the world around us. Our lab is harnessing emerging technologies of cryo-EM, coupled with molecular dynamics simulations, biophysical analyses, and functional studies to elucidate the complex properties of these systems and to understand their mechanistic contributions to human disease.

Another focus of our research is to understand the molecular basis of age-related protein aggregation events associated with disease (e.g. arrhythmia, Alzheimer’s, cancer and vision loss). We are experts in molecular aging mechanisms related to cataract formation – the leading cause of blindness worldwide. We are keenly focused on understanding the structural transitions that occur in lens proteins as we get older, and how their associated aggregation events are protected by chaperone proteins. It is our hope that the atomic-level blueprints produced by our research that describe these processes will ultimately guide us toward the rational development of new tools (drugs) that may effectively repair or prevent age-related disease.