Senyon Choe

Professor Senyon Choe joined the Salk Institute in 1993 as the first member of the Institute's newly initiated Structural Biology Laboratory. Choe uses X-ray crystallography as a major tool to determine three-dimensional structures of biologically important molecules. He and his colleagues also study the relationship between a molecule's fine structure and the functions it carries out. Among Choe's recent interests is the study of molecules that bind to specific cells to instruct them to carry out functions. An extension of this work will explore the possibility of designing new molecules that can be delivered specifically to modulate sick cells. His group also has done pioneering work on the molecular structure of an ion channel, important to many physiological functions ranging from heart rate to nerve cell communication.