Katherine Henzler-Wildman

Katherine Anne Henzler-Wildman is the Jean V. Thomas Professor in Biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2024. She is known for her work on how proteins control the movement of molecules across membranes.

Katherine Henzler-Wildman
Alma materUniversity of Michigan
Scientific career
ThesisThe mechanism of lipid bilayer disruption by the human antimicrobial peptide, LL-37 (2003)

Education and career

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Henzler-Wildman received a B.A. from Cornell University in 1998.[1] She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 2003.[2] She then moved to Brandeis University where she worked with Dorothee Kern as a postdoctoral researcher until 2008 when she joined the faculty at Washington University in St. Louis.[2] In 2015 moved to the University of Madison, and as of 2025 Henzler-Wildman is the Jean V. Thomas Professor in Biochemistry.[3]

Research

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Henzler-Wildman's early research determined structural details of lipid membranes[4] and the dynamics of protein folding.[5] She has investigated the protein EmrE[6] and demonstrated how this protein pushes toxic molecules out of microbial cells.[7]

Selected publications

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Awards and honors

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Henzler-Wildman was named a Searle Scholars Program in 2010,[8] and received the Margaret Oakley Dayhoff Award from the Biophysical Society in 2013.[9] She was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2024.[10]

References

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  1. Gordon, Sharona E. (2015-01-26). "To better serve our community: Introducing new Associate Editors and an expanded Editorial Advisory Board for 2015". Journal of General Physiology. 145 (2): 83–90. doi:10.1085/jgp.201411352. ISSN 0022-1295. PMC 4306714. PMID 25624446.
  2. 1 2 "Katherine A. Henzler-Wildman, PhD". Washington University Medicine. Retrieved 2025-04-19.
  3. "Henzler-Wildman, Katherine". Department of Biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 2019-09-19. Retrieved 2025-04-19.
  4. Henzler Wildman, Katherine A.; Lee, Dong-Kuk; Ramamoorthy, A. (2003-06-01). "Mechanism of Lipid Bilayer Disruption by the Human Antimicrobial Peptide, LL-37". Biochemistry. 42 (21): 6545–6558. doi:10.1021/bi0273563. ISSN 0006-2960.
  5. Henzler-Wildman, Katherine A.; Thai, Vu; Lei, Ming; Ott, Maria; Wolf-Watz, Magnus; Fenn, Tim; Pozharski, Ed; Wilson, Mark A.; Petsko, Gregory A.; Karplus, Martin; Hübner, Christian G.; Kern, Dorothee (2007). "Intrinsic motions along an enzymatic reaction trajectory". Nature. 450 (7171): 838–844. doi:10.1038/nature06410. ISSN 0028-0836.
  6. Morrison, Emma A.; DeKoster, Gregory T.; Dutta, Supratik; Vafabakhsh, Reza; Clarkson, Michael W.; Bahl, Arjun; Kern, Dorothee; Ha, Taekjip; Henzler-Wildman, Katherine A. (2012). "Antiparallel EmrE exports drugs by exchanging between asymmetric structures". Nature. 481 (7379): 45–50. doi:10.1038/nature10703. ISSN 0028-0836. PMC 3253143. PMID 22178925.
  7. Trafton, Anne (2022-02-25). "MIT Chemists Discover Structure of Protein That Pumps Toxic Molecules Out of Bacterial Cells". SciTechDaily. Retrieved 2025-04-19.
  8. Ericson, Gwen (2010-05-06). "Washington University biochemist named 2010 Searle Scholar". The Source. Retrieved 2025-04-19.
  9. "Biophysical Society Names Six 2013 Award Recipients" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-03-16.
  10. "2024 AAAS Fellows | American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)". www.aaas.org. Retrieved 2025-04-19.
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