Michael Rosen

Dr. Michael Rosen is the Chair of the Department of Biophysics at UT Southwestern Medical Center and an Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. His research focuses on biomolecular condensates, studying their formation, regulation, and functions through techniques such as biochemical reconstitution, microscopy, and cryo-electron tomography. Key contributions include understanding phase separation mechanisms in cellular compartments and their roles in processes like mitosis and signal transduction.

Education: B.S. in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering (University of Michigan, 1987), Ph.D. in Chemistry (Harvard University, 1993), postdoctoral research at the University of Toronto (1993–1996). Established his independent lab at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (1996) before joining UTSW in 2001.

Research emphasizes condensates' material properties, including their liquid-like behavior and interactions with lipids and nucleosomes. Notable findings include how phase transitions protect mitotic chromosomes from microtubule damage and how condensates modulate enzymatic activity through molecular crowding.

Awards include the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigatorship and the Beth Levine M.D. Prize in Autophagy Research. His lab collaborates widely, integrating biophysics, biochemistry, and structural biology to address cellular organization across scales.