Danielle Tullman-Ercek

Danielle Tullman-Ercek is a Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Northwestern University and Director of the Master of Science in Biotechnology Program. She leads the Tullman-Ercek Lab, focusing on engineering self-assembling protein systems for applications in medicine and environmental science. Her work explores principles of protein nanoscale organization, performance enhancement through biochemical process organization, and functional manipulation of protein assemblies in living/non-living systems.

Education: Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin (200?), B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology.

Research Interests: The lab studies protein containers like viral capsids (e.g., MS2) and bacterial microcompartments (e.g., Pdu microcompartments), as well as membrane protein machines such as the type III secretion system. Key projects include understanding self-assembly rules, optimizing metabolic pathways within encapsulated systems, and developing tools for synthetic biology education/training.

Recent work highlights include engineering type III secretion systems for protein delivery, designing synthetic organelles via microcompartment engineering, and advancing high-throughput screening techniques for biomaterials. Her lab collaborates with groups like the Center for Synthetic Biology (co-directed since 2023) and the Olvera de la Cruz lab for computational modeling.

Advising & Grants: Supervises graduate students (e.g., Madeline Mills, Matthew Lucia) and postdocs (e.g., Feipeng Chen, Ekta Bhattacharya). Lab alumni include Dr. Carolyn Mills (Assistant Professor at UC Santa Barbara) and Dr. Nolan Kennedy (Research Assistant Professor). Active in training initiatives like the Synthetic Biology Across Scales program.

Labs/Teams: Tullman-Ercek Lab (Northwestern) and affiliated with the Center for Synthetic Biology, McCormick School of Engineering, and the PhD Program in Interdisciplinary Biological Sciences.