Katherine Albanese

Katherine Albanese is an Assistant Professor at Wake Forest University's Department of Chemistry. She leads the Albanese Lab, focusing on epigenetic pathways and developing novel therapeutic targets through protein design, chemical biology, and synthetic biology approaches. Her research integrates computational protein design, histone posttranslational modification (PTM) analysis, and synthetic cell systems to study gene regulation and epigenetic mechanisms.

Education: BS in Chemistry (2016, Wake Forest University); PhD in Chemistry (2021, UNC Chapel Hill); Postdoctoral Researcher (2021-2024, University of Bristol, UK).

Research Interests: Histone PTM dynamics, de novo protein design, synthetic cell models, oncogenic histone mutations, and combinatorial histone codes. Her lab employs a multi-disciplinary approach combining biochemistry, computational modeling, and synthetic biology to address fundamental questions in epigenetics.

Key Research Areas: (1) New histone PTM discovery, (2) Aberrant histone mutations in cancer, (3) Synthetic cell platforms for epigenetic hypothesis testing. Recent work highlights engineered reader proteins, charge-agnostic binding mechanisms, and α-helical barrel design for therapeutic applications.

Lab Website: albaneselab.com