Rama Ranganathan

Rama Ranganathan, M.D. Ph.D. is a Joseph Regenstein Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, and the College at the University of Chicago. Rama’s research has focused on understanding the basic principles of structure, function, and evolution in biological systems, particularly emphasizing the atomic and cellular scale. His work has led to new models for the architecture of natural proteins and new experimental tools for studying the physics and evolution of proteins and cellular systems. He leads the University of Chicago Center for Physics of Evolving Systems. He is the director of BioCARS beamline, a national user facility for structural biology at the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory.

He received his undergraduate degree in Bioengineering from UC Berkeley. He received his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from UC San Diego, working jointly with Charles Zuker, Chuck Stevens, and Roger Tsien. He conducted brief postdoctoral studies at Harvard Medical School, working with Rod MacKinnon, and at the Salk Institute, working with Joe Noel.