Daniel Kober

Daniel Kober is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at UT Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW), where he leads the Kober Lab. He joined UTSW in 2022 after completing his postdoctoral training there under Dan Rosenbaum and Arun Radhakrishnan. His research focuses on the biochemical and biophysical mechanisms linking protein degradation to lipid metabolism, particularly through the Scap-SREBP pathway and ER cholesterol sensing.

Dr. Kober earned his B.S. from Evangel University (2012), Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis (2017), and conducted postdoctoral studies at UTSW. His work integrates structural biology, cryo-electron microscopy, and biochemical approaches to investigate protein interactions in disease contexts such as Alzheimer’s and lipid dysregulation.

His lab’s central questions include how ER membrane environments influence protein turnover, mechanisms of luminal protein folding, and development of therapeutic tools targeting medically relevant protein interactions. Key projects involve SREBP2 processing, Scap conformational changes, and TREM2’s role in neurodegenerative diseases.

• Awards: NIH K99/R00 Award, UT Systems Rising STARs, American Heart Association Fellowships
• Lab Focus: Protein homeostasis, ER signaling, structural biology
• Techniques: Cryo-EM, biochemical assays, monoclonal antibody engineering

He is affiliated with UTSW’s Biological Chemistry and Molecular Biophysics programs, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration in biomedicine.