Rate My Professor Petra Fromme

Petra Fromme is a Regents’ Professor, Paul V. Galvin Professor of Chemistry, and Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry in the School of Molecular Sciences at Arizona State University (ASU). She directs the Biodesign Center for Applied Structural Discovery and is an affiliate faculty member in the Department of Physics. Fromme earned her B.S. (Vordiplom) and M.S. (Diplom) in Biochemistry from the Free University of Berlin in 1983 and 1985, a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Technical University of Berlin in 1988, and a Habilitation in Physical Chemistry from the same university in 1998. Her early career at the Max Volmer Institute of the Technical University of Berlin progressed from teaching and research assistant (1985–1993) to assistant professor (1993–1999) and associate professor (1999–2002). She joined ASU in 2002 as a full professor and has held graduate faculty positions in Plant Biology since 2008 and Biological Design since 2009. In 2012, she received the Paul V. Galvin Professorship and Faculty Achievement Award for Defining Edge Research in Natural Sciences and Mathematics; in 2014, she was appointed center director; and in 2016, promoted to Regents’ Professor.

Fromme is internationally recognized as a leader in photosynthesis, protein macromolecular crystallography using synchrotrons, and serial femtosecond nanocrystallography using X-ray free-electron lasers. Her research elucidates structure-to-function relationships of membrane proteins in bioenergy conversion, including photosystems I and II and ATP synthase, as well as those in infectious diseases. She pioneered serial femtosecond crystallography techniques, allowing room-temperature, radiation-damage-free molecular movies of biomolecules. Key publications include “Three-dimensional structure of cyanobacterial photosystem I at 2.5 Å resolution” (Nature, 2001), “Crystal structure of photosystem II from Synechococcus elongatus at 3.8 Å resolution” (Nature, 2001), and “Femtosecond X-ray protein nanocrystallography” (Nature, 2011). Having authored over 200 peer-reviewed articles, her contributions have transformed structural biology with applications in bioenergy, biomedicine, and materials science. Honors include the Joachim-Tiburtius Award (1989), Robin Hill Award (2001), Christian B. Anfinsen Award (2021), and election to the AIMBE College of Fellows (2024). Fromme has served on NIH study sections and international advisory boards.