Nathan Wright

Nathan Wright is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at James Madison University (JMU), where he has been a faculty member since 2011. He leads the Wright Lab, focusing on structural biology approaches to investigate muscle diseases. His research employs NMR spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography, and molecular dynamics simulations to study cytoskeletal proteins like obscurin and desmoplakin.

Wright holds a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Maryland (2008), an MS in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University of Pennsylvania (2002), and a BS in Biology from Haverford College (2000).

His primary research interests include:

• Mechanisms of muscle disease pathogenesis
• Protein structure-function relationships in obscurin and desmoplakin
• Calpain-mediated degradation in cardiac disorders
• Development of therapeutic strategies for cardiomyopathies
• Biophysical characterization of protein dynamics

Recent publications (2023-2025) show strong trends in:

• Scalable protein expression systems using bubble column reactors
• Structural mechanisms of viral proteases (SARS-CoV-2, enterovirus)
• Computational and experimental approaches to muscle protein interactions
• Therapeutic targeting of desmoplakin degradation pathways

Wright mentors undergraduate researchers in his lab, emphasizing structural biology techniques. He also engages in science outreach, including public demonstrations of biophysics principles.