Penny Beuning

Penny Beuning is a Chair and Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Northeastern University. She is affiliated with the Barnett Institute for Chemical and Biological Analysis and has been recognized for her research on DNA damage tolerance and enzyme function.

• Doctorate from the University of Minnesota
• Post-doctoral work at the University of Minnesota and MIT

Her research focuses on understanding how cells respond to DNA damage, develop DNA repair tools for biotechnology, and engineer enzymes for metabolic applications. Collaborative work with the Ondrechen laboratory explores remote residue roles in enzyme function and structural genomics.

Dr. Beuning has received prestigious awards including the NSF CAREER Award, American Cancer Society Research Scholar, and AAAS Fellowship. She leads the Beuning Laboratory, which investigates protein engineering and DNA metabolism.

• Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation New Faculty Award
• Cottrell Scholar
• American Cancer Society Research Scholar
• NSF CAREER Award
• Fellow of the American Chemical Society
• AAAS Fellow

The Beuning Laboratory studies the structural and functional dynamics of DNA repair proteins, with recent work applying machine learning to analyze SARS-CoV-2 proteins. Her research bridges fundamental enzyme biology and applied biotechnology.