Joan-Emma Shea

Joan-Emma Shea is a Professor in the Department of Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, with a research focus on protein folding, amyloid aggregation, and liquid-liquid phase separation using molecular dynamics simulations and advanced data analysis. Her work bridges computational modeling with experimental validation to study neurodegenerative diseases and biomolecular condensates.

• Key research themes: protein misfolding in Alzheimer's, hydrophobicity in intrinsically disordered proteins, osmolyte effects on stability, and bio-inspired material design

Her publications from 2003-2025 demonstrate expertise in multi-scale modeling and biomolecular simulation techniques, with recent work (2022-2025) emphasizing tau prion formation, hydrophobic patterning in peptoids, and coacervation dynamics. Notable journals include PNAS, Nature Communications, and JACS.

The Shea group develops methods like CORE-MD for enhanced sampling and studies surface-driven protein denaturation, chaperonin-assisted folding, and amyloid inhibitor mechanisms through collaborations with experimentalists in mass spectrometry and neuroscience.