Lindert, Steffen

Biochemistry

Short Biography

Dr. Lindert received his M.Sc. in Physics from the University of Leipzig in 2006 and his Ph.D. in Chemical and Physical Biology (Molecular Biophysics track) from Vanderbilt University in 2011. Co- advised by Prof. Jens Meiler and Prof. Phoebe Stewart, he worked on a combined experimental and computational project developing a program – EM-Fold – which folds proteins into medium resolution cryo-EM density maps. After finishing his Ph.D., he joined the laboratory of Prof. Andy McCammon at the University of California, San Diego, as a postdoctoral fellow. His research focused on macromolecular simulations of proteins involved in cardiomyocyte contraction and computer-aided drug discovery. He was awarded a prestigious postdoctoral fellowship from the American Heart Association. He started his research group at Ohio State University in August of 2015. Research in the lab focuses on the development and application of computational techniques for modeling biological systems, with the goal of gaining a deeper understanding of biomolecular processes, predicting protein structure with the use of sparse experimental data, and discovering new drugs. Dr. Lindert will move to UCLA in July 2025.

Research Interests

Protein structure is the key to understanding and manipulating protein function. Knowledge of protein structure enables a deeper understanding of biological processes and, combined with advanced computational techniques, opens exciting opportunities in structure-based drug development and protein design. The Lindert lab develops and employs computational methods to accurately determine protein structure in different contexts, design protein function, and develop selective drug interventions for disease. Specifically, we are working towards a more accurate understanding of protein structure in cellular environments, and we are developing more efficient drug screening protocols, as well as effective treatment leads against heart failure. We are using machine learning, physics-based and knowledge-based methods and our work combines elements of biochemistry, physical chemistry and biophysics.

Honors & Awards

2024 OSU College of Arts and Sciences Mid-Career Faculty Excellence Award

2023 Ohio State University Scarlet and Gray Associate Professor Award

2020 Sloan Research Fellow, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

2019 ACS OpenEye Outstanding Junior Faculty Award in Computational Chemistry

2019 Ohio State University Elizabeth L. Gross Award for Faculty Excellence

2018 National Science Foundation CAREER Award

2013 Protein Society Finn Wold Award

2012 OpenMM Visiting Fellow Scholarship, Stanford University

2012 Post-Doctoral Fellowship from American Heart Association

2012 Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship from Center for Theoretical Biological Physics, UCSD

Representative Publications

Below is the list of some relevant, recent publications.  For the full list, please visit here.

  1. Drake, Z.C.; Seffernick, J.T.; Lindert, S. (2022), Protein complex prediction using Rosetta, AlphaFold, and mass spectrometry covalent labeling. Nat Commun 13 (1), 7846.
  2. Turzo, S.B.A.; Seffernick, J.T.; Rolland, A.D.; Donor, M.T.; Heinze, S.; Prell, J.S.; Wysocki, V.H.; Lindert, S. (2022), Protein shape sampled by ion mobility mass spectrometry consistently improves protein structure prediction. Nat Commun 13 (1), 4377.
  3. Biehn, S.E.; Lindert, S. (2021), Accurate Protein Structure Prediction with Hydroxyl Radical Protein Footprinting Data. Nat Commun 12, 341.
  4. Seffernick, J.T.; Harvey, S.R.; Wysocki, V.H.; Lindert, S. (2019), Predicting Protein Complex Structure from Surface-Induced Dissociation Mass Spectrometry Data. ACS Cent Sci 5 (8), 1330-1341.
  5. Harvey, S.R.; Seffernick, J.T.; Quintyn, R.S.; Song, Y.; Ju, Y.; Yan, J.; Sahasrabuddhe, A.N.; Norris, A.; Zhou, M.; Behrman, E.J.; Lindert, S.; Wysocki, V.H. (2019), Relative interfacial cleavage energetics of protein complexes revealed by surface collisions. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 116 (17), 8143-8148.