Lukasz Joachimiak, Ph.D.

Download Curriculum Vitae

Lukasz Joachimiak received his B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2000.  He received his Ph.D. in 2007 working in the lab of David Baker at University of Washington where he established computational tools to define the energetic and structural principles that underlie protein-protein interactions.  He completed his postdoctoral work with Judith Frydman at Stanford University where he developed innovative approaches to understand the structure and mechanics of substrate interaction by the eukaryotic chaperonin TRiC/CCT.

At UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dr. Joachimiak's laboratory utilizes structural and biochemical approaches to dissect the role of chaperones and protein misfolding in neurodegenerative diseases.  His group is also interested in integrating experimental and computational methods to predict the structures of protein complexes not tractable by classical structural biology techniques.

Undergraduate

Uni of Wisconsin-Madison (2001), Biochemistry

Graduate School

University of Washington (2007), Biochemistry

• Chaperone structual biology
• Molecular recognition and specificity
• Protein (mis)folding in neurodegenerative diseases

Featured Publications

FTD-tau S320F mutation stabilizes local structure and allosterically promotes amyloid motif-dependent aggregation.

Chen D, Bali S, Singh R, Wosztyl A, Mullapudi V, Vaquer-Alicea J, Jayan P, Melhem S, Seelaar H, van Swieten JC, Diamond MI, Joachimiak LA, Nat Commun 2023 Mar 14 1 1625

Network of hotspot interactions cluster tau amyloid folds.

Mullapudi V, Vaquer-Alicea J, Bommareddy V, Vega AR, Ryder BD, White CL, Diamond MI, Joachimiak LA, Nat Commun 2023 Feb 14 1 895

DnaJC7 binds natively folded structural elements in tau to inhibit amyloid formation.

Hou Z, Wydorski PM, Perez VA, Mendoza-Oliva A, Ryder BD, Mirbaha H, Kashmer O, Joachimiak LA, Nat Commun 2021 09 12 1 5338

Biophysical properties of a tau seed.

Hou Z, Chen D, Ryder BD, Joachimiak LA, Sci Rep 2021 Jun 11 1 13602

Tau strains shape disease.

Vaquer-Alicea J, Diamond MI, Joachimiak LA, Acta Neuropathol 2021 Apr

Regulatory inter-domain interactions influence Hsp70 recruitment to the DnaJB8 chaperone.

Ryder BD, Matlahov I, Bali S, Vaquer-Alicea J, van der Wel PCA, Joachimiak LA, Nat Commun 2021 02 12 1 946

Tau local structure shields an amyloid-forming motif and controls aggregation propensity.

Chen D, Drombosky KW, Hou Z, Sari L, Kashmer OM, Ryder BD, Perez VA, Woodard DR, Lin MM, Diamond MI, Joachimiak LA, Nat Commun 2019 06 10 1 2493

Anti-tau antibodies targeting a conformation-dependent epitope selectively bind seeds.

Hitt BD, Gupta A, Singh R, Yang T, Beaver JD, Shang P, White CL, Joachimiak LA, Diamond MI, J Biol Chem 2023 Sep 105252

Hydrostatic Pressure Sensing by WNK kinases.

Humphreys JM, Teixeira LR, Akella R, He H, Kannangara AR, Sekulski K, Pleinis J, Liwocha J, Jiou J, Servage KA, Orth K, Joachimiak L, Rizo J, Cobb MH, Brautigam CA, Rodan AR, Goldsmith EJ, Mol Biol Cell 2023 Aug mbcE23030113

DnaJC7 specifically regulates tau seeding.

Perez VA, Sanders DW, Mendoza-Oliva A, Stopschinski BE, Mullapudi V, White CL, Joachimiak LA, Diamond MI, Elife 2023 Jun 12

• Endowed Scholar Award
  (2016-2020)