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Walter Chazin

Vanderbilt Center for Structural Biology (CSB)
Molecular Biophysics Training Program
VICC Genome Maintenance Research Program
Vanderbilt Institute for Infection, Immunology and Inflammation (VI4)
Vanderbilt Diabetes Research and Training Center (DRTC)
Training Program in Molecular Toxicology
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC)
Vanderbilt Institute of Chemical Biology (VICB)


We have a broad range of interests, using the concepts and approaches of structural biochemistry to address key questions in medicine and biology. Three key factors govern our research: (1) a deep commitment to working with human proteins; (2) fascination with the mechanics of multi-protein machinery in genome maintenance and innate immunity; (3) firm belief in the power of collaboration and multi-disciplinary team science.

We are an integrated structural biology group that takes a problem-oriented approach, using whatever techniques are necessary to answer the question at hand. We study systems involved in innate immune responses, genome maintenance and cancer at the molecular level. Our work is tightly coupled to functional analysis and is thus very collaborative, collegial, and deeply engaged in multi-investigator projects.

Keywords: structural cell biology , genome maintenance , cancer , innate immunity , fragment-based molecular discovery , multi-protein complexes , biochemistry

Research Area: Structural Biology , Drug Design , Cell Cycle, DNA Repair, and Chromosome Biology , Immunology , Cancer Biology