Marco Mravic

Marco Mravic, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI). His lab focuses on engineering membrane proteins using computational design and integrative approaches to study biophysical principles in lipid environments. Key research areas include synthetic membrane protein design, chemical biology tools targeting transmembrane domains, and molecular modeling integrating experimental data.

Education: B.S. in Chemical Engineering (UCLA, 2014); Ph.D. in Molecular Biophysics (UCSF, 2020). Awards include the HHMI Gilliam Fellowship (2017–2020) and MARC U*Star Trainee (2012–2014).

Research emphasizes three core areas: 1) designing simplified membrane protein models to explore biophysical questions; 2) creating de novo chemical tools for membrane protein analysis; and 3) multi-scale simulations to understand membrane interactions. Experimental techniques include protein synthesis, structural biology (X-ray/NMR/cryo-EM), and cell-based assays.

Publications highlight advancements in membrane protein design, such as the MemPPI platform for protein-protein interaction analysis and de novo proteins inhibiting cytokine receptors. The lab actively recruits experimental and computational scientists, emphasizing diversity and interdisciplinary training.