Rate My Professor Erik Holmstrom

Erik Holmstrom is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular Biosciences at the University of Kansas, where he established his independent single-molecule biophysics research program upon joining the faculty in 2019. He also holds a courtesy appointment as Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry. Holmstrom earned a B.S. in Biology and Chemistry from Willamette University in 2008 and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2014, during which he pioneered the application of single-molecule techniques to investigate RNA folding into functional three-dimensional structures. He then pursued postdoctoral research at the University of Zurich from 2014 to 2018, employing these methods to elucidate the conformational dynamics of RNA-protein complexes.

Holmstrom's research centers on single-molecule biophysical studies of RNA-protein interactions, which form the basis of molecular biology's central dogma. His laboratory employs single-molecule Förster resonance energy transfer (smFRET), combined with ensemble biochemical techniques, to probe the structural, energetic, and kinetic properties of nucleic acid-protein complexes. A primary focus is the assembly pathway of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) nucleocapsid, where interactions between genomic RNA and the multifunctional core protein drive the formation of nucleocapsid-like particles; disrupting these interactions represents a promising antiviral strategy. In September 2024, Holmstrom received a five-year, $1.8 million NIH grant to investigate the biochemical mechanisms of riboregulatory interactions involving the HCV 3'X RNA element, with the goal of identifying vulnerabilities for novel therapeutics against this disease. Key publications include "Conformational Plasticity of Hepatitis C Virus Core Protein Enables RNA-Induced Formation of Nucleocapsid-like Particles" (Journal of Molecular Biology, 2018), "Disordered RNA Chaperones Enhance Nucleic Acid Folding via Local Charge Screening" (Nature Communications, 2019), "Integrating Single-Molecule FRET and Biomolecular Simulations to Study Diverse Interactions Between Nucleic Acids and Proteins" (Essays in Biochemistry, 2021), "Single-Molecule-Binding Studies of Antivirals Targeting the Hepatitis C Virus Core Protein" (Journal of Virology, 2023), and "Conformational Dynamics of the Hepatitis C Virus 3'X RNA" (RNA, 2024).