Postdoc
Joined the Hollfelder group: July 2025
Background and Current Projects: Before coming to the Hollfelder lab, I was a postdoc at the ETH Zurich in Andrew deMello’s lab working on plastic degrading enzymes. Before that, I was a visiting postdoc at Kyungpook National University in Kyung-jin Kim’s lab working on plastic degrading enzymes. Before that, I was a PhD student in Brian Kuhlman and John Sondek’s labs at UNC Chapel Hill working on de novo protein design to inhibit G proteins. Before that, I was an undergraduate in Jim Bowie’s lab at UCLA working on enzymatic production of isoprenol. Before that, I was an intern in Doug Tobias’s lab working on molecular dynamic simulations of eye lens crystallins. And before that, I was a youth of minor consequence.
Currently, I am interested in using droplet microfluidics for high-throughput biophysical experimentation.
Interests: I enjoy reading, basketball/tennis, milky way photography, and of course science. And since coming to the UK, I have started to learn Warhammer 40k!
Publications
- Hussain, M., Cummins, M. C., et al. Designer proteins that competitively inhibit Gαq by targeting its effector site. J. Biol. Chem. 297, 101348 (2021). Link
- Cummins, M. C. et al. AlphaFold accurately predicts distinct conformations based on the oligomeric state of a de novo designed protein. Protein Sci. (2022). Link
- Cummins, M.C. et al. De novo design of stable proteins that efficaciously inhibit oncogenic G proteins. Protein Sci. (2023). Link
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