Lead Investigator Bio

Areas of expertise: Structural biology, cryo-EM, synaptic receptors, ion channels

Dr. Juan Du earned her Diploma degree in chemistry from University of Goettingen and a Ph.D. from the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Freiburg in Germany. While there, she determined the structure of a key enzyme required for gluconeogenesis and revealed new facets of the membrane transporter FocA. In 2012, she joined the Gouaux Lab at Oregon Health & Science University’s Vollum Institute, where her work focused on characterizing excitatory triheteromeric NMDA receptor as well as inhibitory glycine receptor using cryo-EM and electrophysiology. She is now an assistant professor in the Center for Cancer and Cell Biology at Van Andel Research Institute.

2019 Klingenstein-Simons Award in the Neuroscience

2019 McKnight Scholar Award for neuroscience

2018 Van Andel Institute Employee Impact Fund

2012 Arthur Lüttringhaus Prize

2012 Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-Financed Students Abroad