Edward O'Brien

Edward O'Brien is a Professor of Chemistry and Director of the NSF National Synthesis Center for Emergence in the Molecular and Cellular Sciences at Pennsylvania State University. His research focuses on the biophysical mechanisms of protein folding during translation, with emphasis on ribosome mechanics, co-translational folding, and the impact of translation kinetics on protein structure/function. He holds affiliations with the Department of Chemistry and the Institute for Computational and Data Sciences.

Education includes a B.S. in Biochemistry (University of the Sciences, 2002), Ph.D. in Chemical Physics (University of Maryland, 2008), and postdoctoral training at the University of Cambridge. His honors include the Presidential Early Career Award (2019), NSF CAREER Award (2016-2021), and multiple NIH grants.

Research interests span mechanistic studies of ribosome-catalyzed peptide bond formation, the role of electrostatic interactions in translation elongation, and the molecular origins of protein misfolding. Recent work explores non-covalent lasso entanglements in proteins and their implications for disease, drug design, and cancer genetics.

Award-winning publications include breakthrough studies on cotranslational folding dynamics and ribosome mechanochemistry. He leads interdisciplinary efforts in computational biophysics and molecular modeling, with grants totaling over $5M. His lab collaborates globally on projects involving proteostasis networks, viral protein interactions, and synthetic biology.