David Eisenberg

David Eisenberg is the Paul D. Boyer Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), serving also as Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Professor of Biological Chemistry. A leader in the field of Biology at UCLA, his academic background includes an A.B. in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard College and a D.Phil. in Theoretical Chemistry from Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship. He pursued postdoctoral studies at Princeton University on water and hydrogen bonding and at Caltech on protein crystallography before joining the UCLA faculty. As Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator (2001-2023) and former Director of the UCLA-DOE Institute for Genomics and Proteomics, he has advanced structural biology research.

The Eisenberg Lab utilizes structural biology techniques including X-ray crystallography, cryo-EM, bioinformatics, and biochemistry to explore protein states in health and disease, focusing on amyloid-forming proteins involved in neurodegeneration such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. This work addresses biofilm formation, corrosion, and the design of small-molecule and peptide-based drugs, as well as the role of RNAs in dementias. Seminal publications include “Structure of the cross-β spine of amyloid-like fibrils” (Nature, 2005) and “Atomic structures of amyloid cross-β spines reveal varied steric zippers” (Nature, 2007). Recent papers feature “Structure-based discovery of small molecules that disaggregate Alzheimer’s disease tissue derived tau fibrils in vitro” (Nature Communications, 2022) and “D-peptide-magnetic nanoparticles fragment tau fibrils and rescue behavioral deficits in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease” (Science Advances, 2024). Eisenberg has published over 300 papers and reviews, accumulating over 131,000 citations, and holds half a dozen patents. His accolades encompass the UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award, John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, UCLA Faculty Research Lectureship, Stein and Moore Award of the Protein Society, ACS Faculty Mentoring Award, and memberships in the National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Philosophical Society, and Institute of Medicine. Additionally, he received the 2025 Alexander Rich Medal and the 2026 Gregori Aminoff Prize in Crystallography.

Professional Email: david@mbi.ucla.edu