News from the Kern Lab


How directed evolution reshapes the energy landscape in an enzyme to boost catalysis

Renee Otten
23 November 2020

Our paper entitled “How directed evolution reshapes the energy landscape in an enzyme to boost catalysis” has appeared ahead of print on the Science website. In collaboration with the Hilvert lab @ ETH Zurich, we show the molecular origins of how directed evolution resulted in the fastest Kemp eliminase to-date. Congratulations to all involved!


Welcome Zach!

Renee Otten
19 October 2020

Zachary Boswell started as a postdoctoral fellow after graduating from Texas Tech University. Welcome to the Kern Lab!


Long overdue congratulations to Dr. Finneran

Renee Otten
27 September 2020

Congratulations to Dr. Patrick Finneran who successfully defended his PhD thesis already on August 17!

Patrick presented about “Resurrecting Ancient Kinases To Understand the Evolution of Kinase Specificity and Regulation” and did a terrific job explaining his thesis work to a large Zoom-audience.

Dr. Finneran started his new job as Senior Scientist Biophysics at Menten AI and on behalf of the Kern-lab family: best of luck to you in your new job and we know you’ll do great Patrick!


Congratulations Dr. Stiller

Renee Otten
15 July 2020

Congratulations to Dr. John Stiller who succesfully defendend his PhD thesis today!

In the first Kern-lab Zoom defense, John gave an excellent talk entitled “Beyond the Ground State: High Energy Structural Determination”. After about an hour of behind-closed-doors interrogation by his thesis committee, we held a small virtual event to celebrate his accomplishments.

John will stay around for a bit longer in the Kern-lab and hopefully we will be able to organize an in-person, pre-pandemic-style party in the not too far future.

Cheers to Dr. Stiller!


New graduates: Klarissa Hollander and Liuyu Chen!

Renee Otten
02 June 2020

The Brandeis University commencement on May 24th was certainly different than usual because of the pandemic… Nevertheless, we are proud of the accomplishments of the brand-new, Kern-lab graduates and hope to celebrate with them in person at a later time!

Congratulations to Klarissa Hollander who finished the BS/MS program (also for being elected to the Brandeis University chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society) and Liuyu Chen who obtained her Master degree.

On behalf of the Kern-lab-family: congratulations, enjoy a little break, and all the best on your next adventures!