Rate My Professor Cyntia Taveneau

Cyntia Taveneau is a Research Fellow in the School of Biomedical Sciences at Monash University and a Group Leader in the Knott Lab at the Biomedicine Discovery Institute. She leads protein design efforts within the AI Protein Design Program. Originally from France, she completed her PhD in Structural Biology and Biochemistry at Université Paris-Saclay and the French National Centre for Scientific Research in 2015, where her work focused on the modeling and purification of lipid kinase PI4KA modules and domains. She then undertook postdoctoral research at Institut Curie from 2015 to 2019, investigating the molecular organisation of septin filaments using biophysical techniques including cryo-electron tomography. In 2019 she joined Monash University, initially contributing to structural studies of biological assemblies in native cellular contexts before moving to the Knott Lab in 2023.

Dr Taveneau’s research centres on structural biology, cryo-electron microscopy, and protein engineering, with a particular emphasis on the rational design of anti-CRISPR proteins using AI-guided methods such as RFdiffusion and BindCraft. She has developed AI-designed anti-CRISPR proteins effective in both bacterial and human cells and leads cryo-EM investigations into microbial immune systems including CRISPR-Cas and novel defence systems. In 2023 she received an Award for Outstanding Achievement at Monash. She has organised and spoken at conferences and workshops including the Lorne Conference on Protein Structure and Function, CRISPR Down Under, and events on AI binder design. Her verified professional email address is Cyntia.Taveneau@monash.edu.