Amédée des Georges received his B.S. in Biochemistry from Université Pierre and Marie Curie in Paris, France before obtaining his Ph.D. degree in Molecular Biology from University of Cambridge for his research with Dr. Linda Amos at the MRC-Laboratory of Molecular Biology on the influence of +end binding proteins on the structure and dynamics of microtubules. Continuing his training in structural biology, he did a postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. Joachim Frank at Columbia University in New York, obtaining high-resolution structures of heterogeneous ribosome complexes and large membrane proteins by cryo-electron microscopy. Dr. des Georges now joined the CUNY Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC) and the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at City College as tenure track assistant professor. He established a research group within the ASRC Structural Biology Initiative, exploring regulatory mechanisms of large protein and RNA complexes by cryo-electron microscopy.

Postdoctoral research, Columbia University; advisor: Joachim Frank, Ph.D. (2009-2015)
Ph.D., Molecular Biology, University of Cambridge, UK; advisors: Linda Amos and Jan Lowe (2004-2008)
M.S., Biochemistry, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France (2002-2004)
B.S., Biochemistry, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France (1998-2002)

The greater level of complexity of the eukaryotic cell is reflected in the much greater level of regulation applied to its cellular processes, and the prevalence of cancer reminds us of their importance. Our goal is to look at the principles governing regulatory interactions in macromolecular complexes at the molecular level and how they influence and modulate the function of those complexes. We use state-of-the-art methods in cryo-electron microscopy and other biophysical and biochemical approaches to study two highly regulated systems: protein translation initiation and the regulation of calcium ion channels. For instance, ion channels such as the ryanodine receptor and the dihydropyridine receptor work together in a highly regulated process to trigger the contraction of muscles. Failures in this process, due to genetic mutations, stress or aging, lead to heart and muscular diseases such as arrhythmias and myopathies. A better understanding of these intricate processes could reveal drugable targets to treat these diseases, and cryo-electron microscopy is an extremely powerful tool to achieve that.

Amedee des Georges, Vidya Dhote, Lauriane Kuhn, Tatyana V. Pestova, Christopher U.T. Hellen, Joachim Frank and Yaser Hashem. (2015) Structure of mammalian eIF3 in the context of the 43S preinitiation complex. Nature, doi:10.1038/nature14891.

Ran Zalk*, Oliver B. Clarke*, Amédée des Georges*, Robert A. Grassucci, Steven Reiken Filippo Mancia, Wayne A. Hendrickson, Joachim Frank and Andrew R. Marks (2014). Structure of a mammalian ryanodine receptor. Nature, doi:10.1038/nature13950.

Amedee des Georges, Yaser Hashem, Sarah N. Buss, Fabrice Jossinet, Qin Zhang, Hstau Y. Liao, Jie Fu et al. (2014). High-resolution Cryo-EM Structure of the Trypanosoma brucei Ribosome: A Case Study. In Computational Methods for Three-Dimensional Microscopy Reconstruction, pp. 97-132. Springer New York.

Amedee des Georges, Yaser Hashem, Anett Unbehaun, Robert A. Grassucci, Derek Taylor , Christopher U.T. Hellen, Tatyana V. Pestova and Joachim Frank (2013). Structure of the mammalian ribosomal pre-termination complex associated with eRF1•eRF3•GDPNP. Nucleic Acid Research, doi: 10.1093/nar/gkt1279.

Yaser Hashem, Amedee des Georges, Vidya Dhote, Robert Langlois, Hstau Y. Liao, Robert A. Grassucci, Tatyana V. Pestova, Christopher U.T. Hellen and Joachim Frank (2013). HCV-like IRESs displace eIF3 to gain access to the 40S subunit. Nature, doi: 10.1038/nature12658.

Yaser Hashem*, Amedee des Georges*, Vidya Dhote, Robert Langlois, Hstau hY. Liao, Robert A. Grassucci, Christopher U.T. Hellen, Tatyana V. Pestova and Joachim Frank (2013). Structure of the mammalian ribosomal 43S preinitiation complex bound to the scanning factor DHX29. Cell, 153, 1108-1119.

Yaser Hashem*, Amedee des Georges*, Jie Fu, Sarah N. Buss, Fabrice Jossinet, Amy Jobe, Chandajit Bajaj, Eric Westhof, Susan Madisson-Antenucci & Joachim Frank, J. (2013). High-resolution cryo-electron microscopy structure of the Trypanosoma brucei ribosome. Nature, 494, 385-389.

Gyanesh Sharma, Jesper Pallesen, Sanchaita Das, Robert Grassucci, Robert Langlois, Cheri M. Hampton, Deborah F. Kelly, Amedee des Georges, Joachim Frank. (2013). Affinity grid-based cryo-EM of PKC binding to RACK1 on the ribosome. J. Struct. Biol., 181, 190-194.

Iwan A. T. Schaap, Frédéric Eghiaian, Amédée des Georges and Claudia Veigel (2012) Effect of envelope proteins on the mechanical properties of influenza virus. J. Biol. Chem., 287, 41078-41088.

Amédée des Georges, Miho Katsuki, Douglas R Drummond, Michael Osei, Robert A Cross & Linda A Amos (2008) Mal3, the homologue of EB1, changes the microtubule lattice. Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol., 15, 1102-8.

Marcink, T. C., Wang, T., des Georges, A., Porotto, M., & Moscona, A. (2020). Human parainfluenza virus fusion complex glycoproteins imaged in action on authentic viral surfaces. PLoS pathogens, 16(9), e1008883.

Dashti, Ali, Ghoncheh Mashayekhi, Mrinal Shekhar, Danya Ben Hail, Salah Salah, Peter Schwander, Amedee des Georges, Abhishek Singharoy, Joachim Frank, and Abbas Ourmazd. "Retrieving functional pathways of biomolecules from single-particle snapshots." Nature Communications 11, no. 1 (2020): 1-14. (co-corresponding author)

* Contributed equally to this work