# Gaudet Lab ### Gaudet Lab at Harvard Mission The mission of the Gaudet Lab is to be a collegial, highly interactive, diverse and intellectually stimulating environment in which each lab member can develop into a successful scientist and progress to the next step in their career. Our research program centers on understanding the structure, function, and evolution of several families of membrane proteins, using state-of-the-art experimental and computational approaches to generate new data and incorporating analyses that leverage publicly available datasets. ![birefringent lysozyme crystal](/sites/g/files/omnuum7206/files/styles/hwp_28_10__1920x685/public/2025-05/20180821_HEWL010_A1_CrackRecovery.jpg?h=fcd63a70&itok=INig8I0C) ## Recent Gaudet Lab News [### SpecificityStudio preprint on bioRxiv! ](/news/2026/06/specificitystudio-preprint-biorxiv) June 15, 2026 A key result is that sequence models that learn from the surrounding sequence context - especially protein language models - systematically bias against variants that alter specificity. Read more on bioRxiv. ![Cartoon representing how results from a mutational library of DraNramp are predicted by context-free and context-aware sequence models](/sites/g/files/omnuum7206/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-06/Fig%20Gaudet%20Lab%20Website.png?h=a172e91c&itok=mjPhoWFc) [### New preprint on determinants of Nramp transport and selectivity ](/news/2026/04/new-preprint-determinants-nramp-transport-and-selectivity) April 01, 2026 from Sam Berry, with Camille Freedman, based on high-throughput functional analysis of ~37,000 variants. Read it here. ![Model on the left, and identified specificity-driving residues mapped on the DraNramp structure on the right.](/sites/g/files/omnuum7206/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-04/Figure%206%20pieces.png?h=acbdc003&itok=EM3zyVvJ) [### New preprint - clade B Nramps do not cotransport protons ](/news/2026/01/new-preprint-clade-b-nramps-do-not-cotransport-protons) January 30, 2026 Posted on bioRxiv - suggests that transition metal selectivity evolved before proton co-transport in canonical Nramp transporters. ![comparison of Mn2+ binding positions in different Nramps](/sites/g/files/omnuum7206/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-02/Bfra%20comparison%20Mn%20position.png?itok=ONVvyLkm) [### Sanket awarded Harvard Brain Initiative Postdoc Pioneer Fellowship ](/news/2026/01/sanket-awarded-harvard-brain-initiative-postdoc-pioneer-fellowship) January 28, 2026 Sanket is using molecular dynamics to investigate insect gustatory receptors. Read more about it in the MCB News here. ![Sanket headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum7206/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-02/Sanket%20Walujkar%20HBI%20Fellowship%2020260128.jpg?h=1f0d91bf&itok=LOkjINyk) [### JBC paper from a TRPV4 project started a long time ago! ](/news/2025/12/jbc-paper-trpv4-project-started-long-time-ago) December 29, 2025 ...with interesting results on the interactome of the TRPV4 intracellular N-terminal region. Read it here. ![TRPV4 structure](/sites/g/files/omnuum7206/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-05/2024_TRPV4_paper_news.png?itok=8GYDXtX0) [### Wasan wins 1st prize poster award at Zymo-sponsored BioFestival 2025! ](/news/2025/10/wasan-wins-1st-prize-poster-award-zymo-sponsored-biofestival-2025) October 26, 2025 See more about the event and award here on the MCB news. ![Wasan receiving poster award](/sites/g/files/omnuum7206/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-02/20251018_151230.jpg?h=d62883b2&itok=7GpEzxc1) [### Sam's News and Views piece on evolution of glutamate transporter ](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41594-025-01625-2) August 25, 2025 ![Evolution of ion coupling in glutamate transporters](/sites/g/files/omnuum7206/files/styles/hwp_scale_small/public/2025-08/Fig%20v4.png?itok=4sFF-BaH) [### Elizabeth's paper on cell surface trafficking of clustered protocadherins ](https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2514178122) July 30, 2025 ![fluorescence microscopy images of clustered protocadherin-expressing cells](/sites/g/files/omnuum7206/files/styles/hwp_scale_small/public/2025-08/May_2025_FigureS2_icon.png?itok=WfWvs7rj) [### Hoopes Prize awarded to Camille Freedman! ](/news/2025/05/hoopes-prize-awarded-camille-freedman) May 09, 2025 ![Camille Headshot 2025](/sites/g/files/omnuum7206/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-01/Camille%2C%20Freedman_IMG_2025_3.jpg?h=5de9d97a&itok=CjY8qRLt) [### Welcome Nikita Kupko! ](https://gaudetlab.hsites.harvard.edu/people/nikita-kupko) February 26, 2025 Nikita is a Biophysics PhD student joining us to investigate 12TM-LuxR transcriptional regulators! ![Nikita Kupko headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum7206/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-03/Nikita%20Kupko%20headshot_1.jpg?itok=e9lTSAou) [### New preprint from Elizabeth May! ](/news/new-preprint-elizabeth-may) October 09, 2024 on a clever surface delivery quantification strategy applied to clustered protocadherins. Read more here! ![fluorescence microscopy images of clustered protocadherin-expressing cells](/sites/g/files/omnuum7206/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-05/May_2025_FigureS2_icon.png?itok=YE0JFURO) [### Welcome Brooke DeJong! ](https://gaudetlab.hsites.harvard.edu/people/brooke-dejong) September 09, 2024 Sophomore concentrating in Chemistry at Harvard, joining the lab this fall after completing the FUEL program! ![Brooke Headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum7206/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/gaudetlab/files/brooke_dejong_headshot_0.jpg?h=235e0528&itok=duy50Ra7) [### Our latest collaborative study on TRPV4 mutations ](https://academic.oup.com/brain/advance-article/doi/10.1093/brain/awae243/7716179) July 18, 2024 out online in Brain. ![TRPV4 structure](/sites/g/files/omnuum7206/files/styles/hwp_scale_small/public/2025-05/2024_TRPV4_paper_news.png?itok=RjWDCRGV) [### Jacob's paper on LeuT-fold transporter conformational changes ](/news/jacobs-paper-leut-fold-transporter-conformational-changes) July 17, 2024 Is now out in Structure. See more on the story here! ![Figure illustrating the statistical analyses of LeuT-fold protein distance difference matrices](/sites/g/files/omnuum7206/files/styles/hwp_scale_small/public/2025-05/Licht_Structure_2024_Icon.png?itok=vgDwuFRF) [### Welcome Paz Meyers! ](https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/gaudetlab/people/paz-meyers-0) June 05, 2024 Rising senior at Harvard, awarded a fellowship from the Generative AI Research Program! ![Paz Headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum7206/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/gaudetlab/files/paz_meyers_headshot_0.jpeg?h=de309e15&itok=siHGAxIY) [### Welcome Wasan Rafat! ](https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/gaudetlab/people/wasan-rafat) June 05, 2024 Rising sophomore at Harvard, joining the peptidase team, funded by HCRP! ![Wasan Rafat headshot](/sites/g/files/omnuum7206/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-05/wasan%20rafat_6696_trim.JPG?itok=4RH8qbKr) [### Congratulations 2024 graduates! ](https://www.mcb.harvard.edu/department/news/congratulations-to-the-class-of-2024/) May 23, 2024 Includes newly minted lab alums Elizabeth May, PhD, Heather Frank, PhD, and Jorge Guerra CPB '24 Harvard College! ![MCO PhD Program 2024 graduates](/sites/g/files/omnuum7206/files/styles/hwp_scale_small/public/2025-05/2024_MCO_PhDs.jpg?itok=y92Rg9uz) [### Jorge wins Henderson Prize for his senior thesis! ](https://www.mcb.harvard.edu/department/news/hoopes-and-henderson-prizes-honor-undergraduates-for-outstanding-thesis-work/) May 22, 2024 Culmination of 3 years of research in the lab! New clues about Nramp-like proteins - read more here! ![Jorge Guerra ](/sites/g/files/omnuum7206/files/styles/hwp_scale_small/public/2025-05/guerra_jorge_biophys_photo.jpg?itok=zk_Vp1LX) [### Structures of an insect fructose receptor ](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211124724003632?via%3Dihub) April 23, 2024 Out in Cell Reports! Channel opening, ligand pocket, and surprising pore-penetrating lipids! MCB website news item here! ![Graphical abstract for the Cell Reports publication describing the BmGr9 structure](/sites/g/files/omnuum7206/files/styles/hwp_scale_small/public/2025-05/BmGr9_structure_Graphical_Abstract.jpg?itok=PQbgsWgm) [### Congratulations Dr. Frank! ](/news/congratulations-dr-frank) March 25, 2024 Heather successfully defended her PhD thesis: "Structure of a silk moth fructose receptor: an ion channel involved in insect chemosensation". Beautifully illustrated thesis and presentation! ![Heather's Photo](/sites/g/files/omnuum7206/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/gaudetlab/files/dsc02746.jpeg?itok=KSpnl0ck) [### New preprint - computational analysis of conformations in LeuT-fold transporters ](https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.01.24.577062v1) January 29, 2024 Led by Jacob Licht, with Sam Berry and Michael Gutierrez. Find it here. ![Figure illustrating various types of distance difference matrices used in the analysis of LeuT-fold transporters](/sites/g/files/omnuum7206/files/styles/hwp_scale_small/public/2025-05/Licht_bioRxiv_2024_Icon.png?itok=au7AsSHV) [### New paper on TRPV2 pharmacology ](https://www.csbj.org/article/S2001-0370(23)00502-0/fulltext) January 07, 2024 With postdoc alum Alex Peralvarez-Marin, in CSBJ. ![TRPV2 structure](/sites/g/files/omnuum7206/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-05/TRPV2.png?itok=vAqh1YSD) [### New preprint - structure of an insect gustatory receptor! ](https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.12.19.572336v1) December 19, 2023 in collaboration with Paul Garrity's lab - out on bioRxiv! ![BmGr9 tetramer model](/sites/g/files/omnuum7206/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-05/right.png?itok=sDR_Ibsv) [### Congrats to Sri on his new paper! ](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982223011181?dgcid=coauthor) September 11, 2023 on computational identification of fungal pheromone genes. You can read it here in Current Biology. ![Current Biology article graphical abstract](/sites/g/files/omnuum7206/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2025-05/Sri_CurBio_graphical_abstract.jpg?itok=PuBa3GSx) arrow\_back arrow\_forward