Joseph Davis

Joseph Davis is an Associate Professor of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), based in the Koch Biology Building. His research focuses on understanding how cells assemble, regulate, and degrade complex molecular machines such as ribosomes and autophagosomes using advanced biochemical, structural, and computational approaches. He leads the Davis Lab, which employs cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), mass spectrometry, and machine learning tools to study molecular mechanisms of autophagy and ribosome biogenesis. His work has been supported by prestigious awards including the Sloan Research Fellowship and National Institute on Aging grants.

Education: PhD in Biology (2010, MIT); dual BS/BA degrees in Biological Engineering and Computer Science (2003, UC Berkeley). Research interests span structural biology, proteostasis pathways, and computational methods for analyzing heterogeneous molecular structures. Key projects address ribosome assembly dynamics, selective autophagy mechanisms, and development of cryo-EM analysis frameworks like cryoDRGN and SIREn. The lab collaborates widely, including with Purdue University on affinity purification methods and the Mosalaganti Group on cryo-ET workflows.

Scientific contributions include seminal studies on AAA+ protease assemblies, ribosome maturation factors, and structural heterogeneity in cellular complexes. Recent work emphasizes translating computational innovations into biological insights, such as modeling ribosome assembly pathways and dissecting autophagosome formation dynamics. His team actively develops open-source tools for data analysis and advocates for reproducible science through open dataset sharing.