Keedy Latest Faculty Addition to ASRC’s Structural Biology Initiative

The Structural Biology Initiative at the Advanced Science Research Center of the Graduate Center at The City University of New York (ASRC) welcomes Dr. Daniel Keedy as an assistant professor, the third faculty member to join the initiative along with Initiative Director and Professor Kevin H. Gardner and Assistant Professor Amedee des Georges.

Keedy—who will also hold an assistant professorship with The City College of New York’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry—focuses his research on how atomic motions underlie protein function. His research combines cutting-edge experimental and computational methods to interrogate the atomic details of allosteric regulation, which are linked to different human diseases including cancers.

“Daniel’s research expertise is an ideal fit for the work already being conducted in the Structural Biology Initiative, particularly given the way it interfaces with work in Amedee’s lab and mine regarding natural and artificial control of a wide range of biological systems,” Gardner said. “We enthusiastically welcome Daniel and look forward to having him as a colleague joining us in further expanding the presence of structural biology research in the building and more broadly in our community.”

Much of Keedy’s research centers on the development and exploitation of a new strategy in structural biology: multitemperature multiconformer crystallography (MMX). By combining experimental and computational methods, his work may reveal new opportunities for targeted small-molecule discovery and protein engineering. Ultimately, this may be used to identify and dissect the functional roles of members of the protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTP) class of proteins in healthy cells in order to correct their misregulation in disease states.

“I am eager to begin working in the ASRC alongside the many talented and groundbreaking researchers already developing their labs there,” Keedy said. “I am especially excited to take advantage of the NMR facility to compare conformational states in solution to those detected by my multitemperature X-ray approach in crystals, along with the other excellent resources hosted at the center. The resources available nearby at the New York Structural Biology Center and at Brookhaven National Laboratory are also ideally located to enable my science.”

Keedy joins the ASRC from the University of California, San Francisco where he was an A.P. Giannini Postdoctoral Fellow with Dr. James Fraser in the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences. He completed his doctoral work at Duke University under the advisement of Drs. David and Jane Richardson. Previously, he completed his B.A. in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee.