Hannah Wayment-Steele

Hannah Wayment-Steele is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, affiliated with the School of Medicine and Public Health and Biostatistics and Medical Informatics. She holds a B.A. from Pomona College, M.Phil. from Cambridge University, Ph.D. from Stanford University, and postdoctoral training at Brandeis University. Her research integrates computational and experimental approaches to understand biomolecular dynamics, leveraging deep learning and NMR spectroscopy. Key focuses include predicting protein dynamics via AlphaFold2, interpreting evolutionary statistics in sequence motifs, and applying these insights to enzyme design and drug discovery. Awards include the Jane Coffin Childs Fellowship. The lab collaborates on crowdsourced challenges and de novo enzyme design projects.

Education: B.A. Pomona College (Theoretical Chemistry), M.Phil. Cambridge University, Ph.D. Stanford University (Chemistry), Postdoc Brandeis University (Biophysics). Research emphasizes quantitative biology, structural biology, and chemical enzymology. The lab’s work bridges computational models with experimental validation, particularly using NMR relaxation dispersion to study protein dynamics. Current projects involve optimizing mRNA therapeutics and designing RNA-based molecular switches through crowdsourcing initiatives.

Scientific Awards: Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund Fellowship. Grants: Likely supported by NIH and UW-Madison startup funds (explicit grants not listed in texts). Advises PhD students Kritika Kumari and Cizhang Zhao, and collaborates with interdisciplinary teams. Labs/Teams: Wayment-Steele Lab at UW-Madison Biochemistry, affiliated with Biostatistics and Medical Informatics.