ellanguyen1711@northwestern.edu
PhD - Illinois Institute of Technology
Research Description
As a postdoctoral fellow in Professor Murali Prakriya’s lab, Ella studies the activation mechanism of Orai1, the pore-forming subunit of the store-operated CRAC channel, using computational structural biology. Orai1 opens only when it engages the ER calcium sensor STIM1, but how that binding event is transmitted through the channel to the gate remains poorly defined at atomic resolution. Her work combines AI-based structure prediction with experimentally derived cross-linking restraints to build models of the assembled Orai1–STIM1 complex, then interrogates those models with all-atom molecular dynamics simulations in native-like lipid bilayers. Using free energy analysis and ensemble-based trajectory analysis, she characterizes the interfacial contacts, conformational transitions, and energetic couplings that link STIM1 binding to pore opening. By integrating simulation with the lab’s electrophysiology and mutagenesis data, Ella aims to produce a mechanistic, structure-based picture of how CRAC channels are gated.
