Pankaj Panwar

Collaborative structural biologist with 15 years of experience in producing membrane proteins (GPCRs, ion channels, transporters, Intramembrane proteases) and soluble proteins (Fabs, disulfide rich, intrinsically disordered and multiprotein complexes) by employing bacterial, mammalian and insect expression systems.

• Spearheaded the formation of a 5 member structural biology team from ground up and developed a highly efficient and cost effective gene-to-structure CryoEM pipeline
• Team lead responsible for structural characterization of Covid-19 therapeutic antibodies in collaboration with Eli Lilly and DARPA [Cell Reports, 2022]
• Regularly presented research findings to external and internal collaborators, and non-scientific audience
• Contributed to the preparation of data packages for scientific publications, IND filing and patent applications
• Outstanding leadership qualities exhibited through the provision of effective mentorship to team members: Post-docs (4), PhDs (1), undergraduates (6)
• Experience in interfacing with cross-functional teams including AI/ML scientists, Conjugation chemists, and cellular biologists to drive integrated drug discovery projects

• Westendorf K, Žentelis S, Wang L, Foster D, Vaillancourt P, Wiggin M, Lovett E, Lee R, Hendle J, Pustilnik A, Sauder JM, Kraft L, Hwang Y, Siegel RW, Chen J, Heinz BA, Higgs RE, Kallewaard NL, Jepson K, Goya R, Smith MA, Collins DA, Pellacani D, Xiang P, Puyraimond VD, Ricicova M, Devorkin L, Pritchard C, Dalal K, Panwar P, Dhupar H, Garces FA, Cohen CA, Dye JM, Huie K, Badger CV, Kobasa D, Audet J, Freitas JJ, Hassanali S, Hughes I, Munoz L, Palma HC, Ramamurthy B, Cross RW, Geisbert TW, Menachery V, Lokugamage K, Borisevich V, Lanz I, Anderson L, Sipahimalani P , Corbett KS, Yang EY, Zhang Y, Shi W, Zhou Y, Choe M, Misasi J, Kwong PD, Sullivan NJ, Graham BS, Fernandez TL, Hansen CL, Falconer E, Mascola JR, Jones BE, Barnhart BC (2022). LY-CoV1404 (bebtelovimab) potently neutralizes SARS-CoV2 variants. Cell Reports 39(7)
• Safabakhsh S, Panwar P, Barichello S, Sangha SS, Hanson PJ, Petegem FV, Laksman Z (2022). The role of phosphorylation in atrial fibrillation: a focus on mass spectrometry approaches. Cardiovascular Research 118(5):1205-1217
• Zheng FY, Panwar P*, McFarlane CR, Tuinte WE, Campiglio M, Petegem FV (2022). Structures of the junctophilin/voltage-gated calcium channel interface reveal hot spot for cardiomyopathy mutations. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119(10): e2120416119
• Scortecci JF, Molday LJ, Curtis SB, Garces FA, Panwar P, Petegem FV, Molday RS (2021). Cryo-EM structures of the ABCA4 importer reveal mechanisms underlying substrate binding and Stargardt disease. Nature communications 12(1):5902
• Asghari P, Scriven RDL, Ng M, Panwar P, Chou KC, Petegem FV, Moore EDW (2020). Cardiac ryanodine receptor distribution is dynamic and changed by auxiliary proteins and post-translational modification. Elife 9:e51602
• Mellor GJ, Pankaj Panwar*, Lee AK, Steinberg C, Hathaway JA, Bartels K, Christian S, Balaji S, Roberts JD, Simpson CS, Boczek NJ, Tester DJ, Radbill AE, Mok NE, Hamilton RM, Kaufman ES, Eugenio PJ, Weiss R, January C, McDaniel GM, Leather GA, Erickson C, Falik S, Behr E, Wilde AM, Sanatani S, Ackerman MJ, Petegem FV, Krahn AD, Laksman Z (2019). Type 8 long QT syndrome: pathogenic variants in CACNA1C-encoded Cav1.2 cluster in STAC protein binding site. Ep Europace 21(11):1725-1732
• Long W, Pangrahi R, Panwar P, Chen XZ, Lemieux MJ, Cheeseman CI (2017). Mechanism and the structural basis of urate/fructose exchange in Human Glucose Transporter 9 (hSLC2A9). Scientific Reports 7: 41167
• Panigrahi R, Arutyunova E, Panwar P, Gimpl K, Keller S, Lemieux MJ (2016). Reversible unfolding of rhomboid intramembrane proteases. Biophysical Journal 110(6):1379-1390
• Long W, Panwar P, Witkowska K, Wong K, O'Neill D, Chen X, Lemieux MJ, Cheeseman CI (2015). Critical Roles of two hydrophobic residues within human glucose transporter 9 (hSLC2A9) in substrate selectivity and urate transport. The Journal of Biological Chemistry. 290(24):15292-303
• Witz S, Panwar P, Schober M, Deppe J, Pasha FA, Lemieux MJ, Möhlmann T (2014). Structure-function relationship of a plant NCS1 memberhomology modeling and mutagenesis identified residues critical for substrate specificity of PLUTO, a nucleobase transporter from Arabidopsis. PLOS one. 9(3): e91343
• Arutyunova E*, Panwar P*, Skiba PM, Gale N, Mak MW, Lemieux MJ (2014). Allosteric regulation of rhomboid intramembrane proteolysis. EMBO Journal. 33(17): 1869-1881
• Panwar P*, Lemieux MJ (2014). Expression and Purification of Haemophilus influenzae Rhomboid Intramembrane Protease GlpG for Structural Studies. Current Protocols in Protein Science 76(1):29.9.1-29.9.25
• Panwar P, Deniaud A, Pebay-Peyroula E (2012). Contamination from an affinity column: an encounter with a new villain in the world of membrane-protein crystallization. Acta Crystallographica D - Biological Crystallography. 68(10): 1272-1277
• Deniaud A, Panwar P, Barrand AF, Bernaudat F, Juillan-Binard C, Ebel C, Rolland N, Pebay-Peyroula E (2012). Oligomeric status and nucleotide binding properties of the plastid ATP/ADP transporter 1: toward a molecular understanding of the transport mechanism. PLOS one. 7(3):e32325

Joint first-author*