News from the Kern Lab


Dyna-1 Project is Now in Print at Nature!

Lufan Xiao
10 August 2026

The paper “Learning millisecond protein dynamics from what is missing in NMR spectra” describing Dyna-1, which predicts µs–ms conformational dynamics on motions tied to enzyme catalysis and ligand binding from protein sequences, has just been accepted by Nature.

Congratulations to co-first authors Hannah Wayment-Steele and Gina El Nesr, as well as everyone else involved, on another elegant work on protein dynamics! The project was a collaboration with Sergey Ovchinnikov at MIT.

Click on this link for the acclerated preview of the article, and/or head over to the publication page for more information.


Congratulations Dr. Ntangka!

Lufan Xiao
10 August 2026

Many congratulations to Dr. Christiana Ntangka who successfully defended her PhD thesis this past July! Well done!


Welcome Wantae, Callum, Marta & Thibault!

Lufan Xiao
23 October 2025

October marks one year of our move to the Scripps Research Institute! The Kern Lab is excited to greet four new postdoctoral fellows since the beginning of 2025. Please meet Wantae, Callum, Marta, and Thibault! We are excited to work with you. Welcome to the Kern lab!


Belated congratulations to Dr. Patterson

Lufan Xiao
23 October 2025

Congratulations to Dr. MacKenzie Patterson who succesfully defended her PhD thesis in June!

Dr. Patterson is continuing her journey at Brandeis as a postdoctoral fellow in Alex Johnson’s Lab; we wish her all the best on behalf of the Kern Lab. Keep in touch!


Farewell Hannah and Dolapo!

Lufan Xiao
23 October 2025

This past summer we had to say goodbye to Hannah and Dolapo! We wish them the best in the new chapters of their journeys in Madison and Chicago.