Associate Professor Steffen Lindert

In July 2025, Professor Steffen Lindert joined UCLA’s Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry as an Associate Professor, bringing world-class expertise in computational chemical biology. His appointment strengthens UCLA’s leadership in structural and computational biology while advancing translational research through global collaborations in medicinal chemistry and drug discovery.

Lindert’s research group relocated with him from Ohio State University, where he served as a Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry. At UCLA, the Lindert group continues to develop and apply advanced computational approaches that integrate mass spectrometry and other biophysical data with physics-based, knowledge-driven, and AI-enabled methods. These approaches allow the team to model biological systems and determine complex protein structures that are otherwise difficult to characterize. By revealing how proteins function in their native cellular environments, their work is guiding protein engineering, accelerating drug discovery, and identifying promising therapeutic leads for diseases such as heart failure—bridging fundamental structural biology with real-world biomedical impact.

“With the emergence of powerful AI techniques, computational biochemistry is going through a historic transformation,” Lindert says. “With our move to UCLA, my group is well-positioned to employ these machine learning methods towards breakthrough achievements in protein design and drug discovery. I am very excited for all our new UCLA collaborations.”

Lindert’s research is highly collaborative, bringing together scientists from leading institutions across the United States and around the world. His group regularly partners with experimental and computational researchers at major universities and biomedical research centers to combine mass spectrometry, structural biology, and molecular modeling approaches. 

Lindert is also committed to making significant contributions to the university’s teaching mission through core undergraduate biochemistry courses, advanced graduate-level structural biology instruction, and the development of new courses in computational structural biology and/or computer-aided drug discovery.

Learn more about Lindert’s research and career: https://lindertlab.chem.ucla.edu/