Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute is pleased to announce Dr. Michael Martynowycz, PhD has joined our team as our newest Assistant Investigator.
Dr. Martynowycz completed his undergraduate studies in Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at Loyola University Chicago. He then earned both his Master’s and PhD in Physics from the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). During his time at IIT, he was an NSF fellow at the Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum, a laboratory-graduate fellow at Argonne National Laboratory, and an adjunct professor at the VanderCook College of Music. His doctoral work involved using X-ray scattering to study drug and protein interactions with lipid membranes to combat antibiotic resistance.
After completing his doctoral studies, Dr. Martynowycz pursued a postdoctoral fellowship at HHMI’s Janelia Research Campus in Ashburn, VA, where he gained expertise in X-ray crystallography and cryogenic electron microscopy. He then joined UCLA’s Department of Biological Chemistry, focusing on developing microcrystal electron diffraction methods to determine membrane protein structures from very small crystals.
Dr. Martynowycz is a structural biologist and physicist who develops new methods to understand biological and chemical processes at the atomic level. He primarily uses cryogenic electron microscopy and X-ray scattering in his research, combining his expertise in antibiotic resistance with cutting-edge cryo-EM techniques to develop new therapies against resistant infections.
We wish Dr. Martynowycz a warm welcome to HWI and Buffalo!