Dr. Ansgar Siemer

Biography

Ansgar Siemer is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physiology and Neuroscience at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. He co-directs the Ph.D. Program in Medical Biophysics. His research focuses on understanding the pathological and functional aspects of protein disorder and aggregation, particularly the differences between functional and pathological amyloid fibrils and the role of intrinsically disordered protein domains in amyloid formation. Siemer’s lab investigates how aggregation of monomeric proteins into various oligomeric and fibrillar states leads to cell death in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Huntington's disease. His work highlights that while amyloid fibrils can have non-pathological and beneficial roles in cell signaling, it is crucial to differentiate between functional and dysfunctional fibrils to develop new therapeutic strategies. The lab primarily utilizes solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), an emerging technique that allows for investigation of protein structures that are otherwise inaccessible to traditional atomic-resolution structural methods.

Research Interests