RESEARCH

Angela M. Gronenborn: "I enjoy being confronted with a totally unexpected result..."

Structural biologist Angela Gronenborn, who will deliver The FEBS Journal Perham Prize Lecture at the 50th FEBS Congress in Maastricht this summer, shares quick-fire insights on her field and on research endeavours in general.

Jan 15, 2026

FEBS Communications

Angela M. Gronenborn: "I enjoy being confronted with a totally unexpected result..."

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Angela M. Gronenborn currently holds the UPMC Rosalind Franklin Professorship in the Department of Structural Biology and is also a Professor of Bioengineering and Chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh, USA. She obtained her PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Cologne (Germany). After post-doctoral training, she started her independent career at the National Institute of Medical Research in Mill Hill, London, and subsequently led research groups at the Max Planck Institute in Munich, The Laboratory of Chemical Physics at the NIH, and since 2006 at the University of Pittsburgh Medical School. Throughout her career, she has been involved in developing NMR methodology for characterizing structure, dynamics and function of biological macromolecules and she uses NMR, crystallography and cryoEM in integrative structural biology studies. In the area of HIV research, she directs the Pittsburgh Center for HIV Protein Interactions (PCHPI). Angela Gronenborn serves on numerous Scientific Advisory and Editorial Boards and has held leadership positions in professional societies. She has trained more than 50 graduate students and post-doctoral fellows and authored more that 500 peer-reviewed publications. She was elected to the National Academy of Sciences (USA), the Norwegian Academy of Arts and Letters, the German National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

What drew you to your research field?

I just fell into it; and because my brother was a molecular biologist, I had someone to spar with about ideas, without worries about sounding stupid.

What do you see as the most important developments in your field in the past 10 years?

AI/ML (artificial intelligence / machine learning) approaches such as AlphaFold and RoseTTAFold have fundamentally changed the field of structural biology; we now use ML-predicted models and verify or falsify them by experiment.

What about challenges in your field?

I see democratizing structural biology as a main general task– moving it out of the hands of a few experts into those of all biologists. As understanding the structure of biological macromolecules is essential to understanding their function, this democratization is essential for progress.

What aspects of your life as a researcher do you most enjoy?

I enjoy being confronted with a totally unexpected result – this forces one to call into question any preconceived notions and ideas.

What do you consider your most important functions as a group leader?

Providing everyone with access to instrumentation, know-how and an intellectual environment to become as creative as possible.

What comes first: technique or biological question?

In my view, there is a lot of truth in Sydney Brenner’s statement: "Progress in science depends on new techniques, new discoveries, and new ideas—probably in that order". Important scientific questions always exist; however, when the appropriate techniques to address them are lacking, progress is impeded. Pursuing such questions often necessitates the development of new methodologies, and in this way, questions and techniques continually drive and reinforce one another.

What worries you about the research landscape currently?

From my perspective in the USA, we live in precarious times, and we must emphasize the importance of liberty as a precondition for the pursuit of knowledge. Freedom of scientific inquiry and public support for education are essential pillars against authoritarian rule.

Lab webpage: https://amg.structbio.pitt.edu

Two recent papers:

Bhinderwala, F. and Gronenborn, A.M. (2025) Exploiting ¹⁹F NMR in a multiplexed assay for small GTPase activity. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 147,1028–1033. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.4c14294

Gronenborn, A.M. (2025) Championing fundamental discovery research: quality over quantity. FEBS J. 292, 933–935. https://doi.org/10.1111/febs.17386

More information on The FEBS Journal Perham Prize Lecture at the 50th FEBS Congress

Angela Gronenborn will deliver The FEBS Journal Perham Prize Lecture at the 50th FEBS Congress in Maastricht, the Netherlands, on Tuesday 7th July 2025 on 'The awesome power of fluorine NMR – from drugs to cells'.

Top image of post: by AcatXIo from Pixabay

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