About
Bruce R. Donald is the James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Computer Science at Duke University, with additional appointments in Mathematics, Chemistry, and Biochemistry. He holds positions in the Department of Computer Science, Department of Mathematics, Department of Biochemistry, and Department of Chemistry. His work bridges computational science with biomedical applications, focusing on protein design, drug discovery, and computational biology.
- James B. Duke Distinguished Professor (2012)
- Professor of Computer Science, Mathematics, Chemistry, and Biochemistry
- Member of Duke Cancer Institute
- Faculty Network Member of Duke Institute for Brain Sciences
- Director of Donald Lab supported by NIH Outstanding Investigator Grant
- Founder of Ten63 Therapeutics (2018)
Donald's research spans computational biology, protein design, drug discovery, and micro-robotics. His lab develops algorithms for protein structure determination, computational protein design, and prediction of drug resistance. His work combines discrete and continuous mathematics to address challenges in structural molecular biology, with applications to HIV vaccine development, cancer therapeutics, and antimicrobial resistance. The Donald Lab is part of multiple interdisciplinary centers including the Center for Quantitative BioDesign and the Center for Genomic and Computational Biology.
His recent publications demonstrate a strong trend toward computational prediction of resistance mutations and design of novel therapeutics. His lab's work on protein design algorithms has led to several cover articles in top journals including Cell, PLoS Computational Biology, and Nature Communications. The lab has made significant contributions to understanding protein dynamics, protein-protein interactions, and the development of computational methods for drug discovery.
- Fellow of the ACM (2009)
- Fellow of the AAAS (2015)
- Fellow of the IEEE (2011)
- Guggenheim Fellow
- Presidential Young Investigator Award
- NIH R35 Established Investigator MIRA award ($3M, 2022)
Donald has advised over 30 PhD students, placing him in the top 0.29% of mathematicians in terms of PhD supervision. His lab has received continuous NIH funding for computational protein design research. The Donald Lab has developed the OSPREY software platform for protein design, which has been applied to HIV vaccine development, cancer therapeutics, and antimicrobial resistance. His research has led to several patents and the founding of Ten63 Therapeutics, which uses AI for drug discovery against "undruggable" cancer targets.
The Donald Lab maintains both dry and wet laboratory facilities, with computational work in LSRC D240 and experimental work in the French Family Science Center. The lab's interdisciplinary approach combines computer science, biochemistry, and structural biology to tackle fundamental challenges in protein design and drug discovery.
