Rate My Professor Stephen Muench

Awarded an MRC Career Development Fellowship in 2010, Muench established his research group focused on the structural biology of membrane proteins. Utilizing electron microscopy, including time-resolved cryo-EM, X-ray crystallography, and innovative sample preparation methods, his work addresses challenges in resolving structures of large macromolecular complexes and their dynamics. Key advancements include electron microscopy-driven inhibitor design for targets like TRPC1 and the bc1 complex, development of time-resolved cryo-EM techniques for capturing protein states on second to microsecond timescales, enhanced understanding of sample preparation in single particle cryo-EM, and utilization of styrene-maleic acid (SMA) polymers and hybrid vesicles with block co-polymers to improve membrane protein stability. Extensive collaborations support structure-based drug design for medically relevant targets such as ABC transporters, receptor tyrosine kinases, QNOR, KCNT1 in epilepsy, and myosin. Muench teaches on the pharmacology team, covering pharmacokinetics, computer-driven drug design, and structural biology. He is a member of the Biochemical Society and British Biophysics Society. His research has amassed nearly 7,000 citations, demonstrating substantial influence in the field.