© Washington University, St. Louis
Research Interests
In my lab, we focus on understanding the molecular mechanisms that give rise to specificity in cellular biochemical reactions. Our research emphasizes pH and charge regulation of proteins and their relationship to subcellular localization and function. We aim to uncover general physical principles governing biochemistry, with implications for fundamental cellular biology research, as well as potential medical and industrial applications. To achieve these goals, we develop and deploy novel methodologies, integrating rigorous chemical thermodynamics, advanced molecular simulation techniques, and analytical physical theories.
Curriculum Vitae
- Since 2024 Computation & Theory team leader in the Biophysical Department of Ibrahim Cissé at the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics, Freiburg, Germany
- 2019-2023 Postdoc with Rohit Pappu, Washington University in Saint Louis, USA
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2013-2016
PhD in physics studying the thermodynamic of protein folding by high
pressure NMR from the University of Montpellier, France, under the
supervision of Catherine Royer at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,
Troy, NY, USA
- 2011-2013 “Bioengineering of living organism” Masters degree, University of Montpellier, France
- 2008-2011 “Physics and Applications” Undergraduate degree, University of Angers, France
Selected Publications
- 2024 Fossat MJ: MEDOC: A fast, scalable and mathematically exact algorithm for the site-specific prediction of the protonation degree in large disordered proteins. BioRxiv. // In Review for Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling
- 2024 King MR, Ruff KM, Lin AZ, Pant A, Farag M, Lalmansingh JM, Wu T, Fossat MJ, Ouyang W Lew MD, Lundberg E, Vahey MD & Pappu RV: Macromolecular Condensation Organizes Nucleolar Sub-Phases to Set up a pH Gradient. Cell.
- 2023 Fossat MJ*, Posey AE* & Pappu RV: Uncovering the contributions of charge regulation to the stability of single alpha helices. ChemPhysChem.
- 2021 Fossat MJ*, Zeng X* & Pappu RV: Uncovering differences in hydration free energies and structures for model compound mimics of charged sidechains of amino acids. Journal of Physical Chemistry B.
- 2021 Fossat MJ, Posey AE & Pappu RV: Quantifying charge state heterogeneity for proteins with multiple ionizable residues. Biophysical Journal.
- 2019 Fossat MJ & Pappu RV: q-Canonical Monte Carlo sampling for modeling the linkage between charge regulation and conformational equilibria of peptides. Journal of Physical Chemistry B.
* Co-first authors