Cheryl A Kerfeld

Cheryl A. Kerfeld is the Hannah Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University in the College of Natural Science and Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology. She also holds a joint appointment at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where she leads research in the Molecular Biophysics & Integrated Bioimaging Division. Kerfeld directs the MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory and co-leads the Center for Catalysis in Biomimetic Confinement (CCBC), a DOE Energy Frontier Research Center.

• Structural Bioengineering
• Bacterial Microcompartment Research
• Photoprotection Mechanisms

Her research focuses on bacterial microcompartments (BMCs) and cyanobacterial photoprotection, including the Orange Carotenoid Protein (OCP). She investigates BMC shell architecture, permeability, and engineering for synthetic biology applications. Her work on photoprotection explores carotenoid-protein interactions and light-harvesting regulation in cyanobacteria.

Recent publications highlight her team's breakthroughs in in vitro BMC shell assembly, novel phycobilisome linker proteins, and computational modeling of metabolite pathways. These studies demonstrate her lab's expertise in integrating structural biology with synthetic applications, including collaborations with institutions like Argonne National Lab and UC Berkeley.

Scientific awards include:

• Election as AAAS Fellow (2019)
• Anton Lang Memorial Award for research excellence

Kerfeld's team has developed tools like the BMC Caller webtool for genomic analysis and pioneered non-lipid synthetic cell architectures through the NSF-funded ProteoCell project. She actively participates in STEM outreach, including the Berkeley Lab K-12 programs and MSU's Undergraduate Genomics Research Initiative.