Jonathon Howard

Jonathon (Joe) Howard is the Eugene Higgins Professor of Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry and Professor of Physics at Yale University, and Director of the Quantitative Biology Institute. He specializes in motor proteins, cytoskeleton mechanics, and cellular biophysics. Born in Australia, he holds a PhD from the Australian National University (1983) and has held roles at the University of Washington and the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden. His research focuses on microtubule dynamics, cilia/flagella motility, and neuronal dendrite morphogenesis. He has pioneered techniques for single-molecule visualization and manipulation. Awards include the NIH Pioneer Award and Fellow of the Biophysical Society. His lab is located at Sterling Hall of Medicine, New Haven.

Education: PhD in Neurobiology (Australian National University, 1983), BSc (Honours) in Mathematics (1979). Postdoctoral work at University of Bristol (1985) and UCSF (1987).

Research Interests: Motor proteins, cytoskeleton mechanics, ciliary/flagellar motility, dendritic branching, and biophysical modeling. Current projects include microtubule severing enzymes, mitotic spindle positioning, and the role of microtubules in mechanoreception.

Awards: NIH Pioneer Award (2015), Biophysical Society Fellow (2016), Max Planck External Member (2016).

Labs/Teams: Howard Lab at Yale, focusing on single-molecule biophysics and cellular mechanics. Collaborators include Sabyasachi Sutradhar, Karla Neugebauer, and Martina Brueckner.