Harel Weinstein, D.Sc.
Tri-Institutional Professor
Chair, Department of Physiology and Biophysics
Director, Institute for Computational Biomedicine, Weill Cornell Medicine
The Weinstein lab studies mechanisms of macromolecular machines in cell physiology with methods of molecular and computational biophysics, bioinformatics, and mathematical modeling. Weinstein and his colleagues focus on the structural and dynamic mechanisms underlying the roles of cellular components in fundamental biological processes such as cell signaling and growth, which they quantify from large-scale computational simulations and analyze with advanced methods of molecular biophysics. The lab’s goal is to understand and predict quantitatively how physiological functions of organized systems in cells, tissues, and organs emerge from the macromolecular processes.
The lab develops new theories and methods based on quantum and statistical mechanics, mathematical modeling, and informatics, and employs them in theoretical and computational approaches combined with cognate experimental designs in collaborative studies. Current interdisciplinary research themes—in the areas of neurotransmission in health and disease, drug abuse mechanisms, and cancer—include investigations of molecular recognition and allostery in cell-surface micromachines (such as G protein coupled receptors and cognate secondary neurotransmitter transporters, as well as the TMEM16 family of lipid membrane scramblases), and directional cholesterol trafficking. The results guide the development of new strategies to modulate mechanisms of cell function and signaling, remodel phenotypes, and repair dysfunction through molecular and genomic interventions.
Weinstein is a faculty member in the Tri-Institutional Ph.D. Program in Chemical Biology based at Weill Cornell Medicine [profile].