Karen Fleming
Karen Renee Gibson Fleming is a Professor of Biophysics at Johns Hopkins University. She investigates the energetics of transmembrane helix-helix interactions. Fleming was awarded the 2020 Protein Society Carl Brändén Award.
Karen G. Fleming | |
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Born | Karen Renee Gibson |
Alma mater | Georgetown University University of Notre Dame |
Scientific career | |
Institutions | Johns Hopkins University |
Thesis | Expression of dopamine beta-hydroxylase in drosophila Schneider 2 cells : evidence for a mechanism of membrane binding other than uncleaved signal peptide (1983) |
Website | Fleming Lab |
Early life and education
Fleming grew up in a family of doctors and nurses, and decided to study medicine at university.[1] She eventually studied French and pre-medical studies at the University of Notre Dame.[2] She realised that she did not like blood, so moved into scientific research instead.[1] After graduating Fleming attended the Catholic University of the West, where she studied French language and culture, before moving to Washington, D.C. to work at the Embassy of Morocco.[2] Fleming missed scientific research, and decided to work toward a doctorate at Georgetown University.[1] Her PhD focussed on molecular biology and during her research she became increasingly interested in proteins.[1] Fleming was a postdoctoral researcher at Yale University, where she worked with Donald Engelman in the Department of Molecular Biophysics.[1] Here she investigated the interaction of transmembrane alpha helices.[1]
Research and career
In 2000 Fleming started her research laboratory at Johns Hopkins University.[1] She continued to study the interactions of transmembrane helices, as well as investigating beta barrels.[1][3] Her work on beta barrels allowed her research group to significantly increase the number of known membrane protein stabilities. She created a hydrophobicity scale to describe protein side-chains.[4] Fleming performed some of the first measurements of the thermodynamics of protein folding.[5][6] She developed a theoretical framework to describe the association of helices.[7] In 2010 Fleming served as President of the Gibbs Society of Biological Thermodynamics.[8] Fleming uses her understanding of protein interactions to monitor the maturation of human microorganisms.[9]
Academic service
Alongside her academic research, Fleming runs workshops on diversity and bias.[1][10] During the workshops she discusses social science literature on gender bias and discrimination.[11] The workshops evolved into workshops that cover confidence, the power of bystanders and positive actions that people can take to improve the research community.[1] She maintains the blog 'Inclusive Excellence' which discusses initiatives to empower women scientists.[12] Fleming was a founder of the Women of Hopkins exhibition, which profiled women members of faculty at Johns Hopkins University.[13] She serves as Co-Chair of the Homewood Campus of Johns Hopkins University Women Faculty Forum.
Awards and honours
Her awards and honours include:
- 2015 Diversity Leadership Council Award[14]
- 2015 Chair of the Gordon Research Conference on Membrane Folding[15]
- 2016 Biophysical Society Thomas E. Thompson Award[16]
- 2019 Johns Hopkins University Provost's Prize for Faculty Excellence in Diversity[17][18]
- 2020 Protein Society Carl Brändén Award[5]
Selected publications
- Fleming, Karen G; Ackerman, Anne L; Engelman, Donald M (1997). "The effect of point mutations on the free energy of transmembrane α-helix dimerization". Journal of Molecular Biology. 272 (2): 266–275. doi:10.1006/jmbi.1997.1236. ISSN 0022-2836. PMID 9299353.
- Moon, C. Preston Fleming, Karen G. Side-chain hydrophobicity scale derived from transmembrane protein folding into lipid bilayers. National Academy of Sciences. OCLC 811395678.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
- Miller, Christopher (2001-12-19). "Faculty of 1000 evaluation for Specificity in transmembrane helix-helix interactions can define a hierarchy of stability for sequence variants". doi:10.3410/f.1002684.29604. Cite journal requires
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Fleming is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.[1]
References
- "Meet Karen Fleming". www.asbmb.org. Retrieved 2020-03-13.
- "Celebration of Science - College of Arts and Sciences - Texas Woman's University". twu.edu. Retrieved 2020-03-13.
- Miller, Chris (September 2018). "A mighty stream of membrane proteins". Nature Structural & Molecular Biology. 25 (9): 751–753. doi:10.1038/s41594-018-0121-x. ISSN 1545-9985. PMID 30150646.
- Moon, C. Preston Fleming, Karen G. Side-chain hydrophobicity scale derived from transmembrane protein folding into lipid bilayers. National Academy of Sciences. OCLC 811395678.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
- "The Protein Society announces its 2020 award recipients". EurekAlert!. Retrieved 2020-03-13.
- Fleming, Karen G. (2014). "Energetics of membrane protein folding". Annual Review of Biophysics. 43: 233–255. doi:10.1146/annurev-biophys-051013-022926. ISSN 1936-1238. PMID 24895854.
- Medicine, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and; Studies, Division on Earth and Life; Technology, Board on Chemical Sciences and; Sciences, Board on Life; Round, Committee on Proposal Evaluation for Allocation of Supercomputing Time for the Study of Molecular Dynamics, Seventh (2016-10-31). Report of the Committee on Proposal Evaluation for Allocation of Supercomputing Time for the Study of Molecular Dynamics: Seventh Round. National Academies Press. ISBN 978-0-309-45176-5.
- "30th Gibbs Conference on Biothermodynamics" (PDF). Michigan State.
- "NSF Award Search: Award#1931211 - Periplasmic Chaperone Network Organization and Mechanism". www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 2020-03-13.
- oberlinreview.org https://oberlinreview.org/17213/news/off-the-cuff-karen-g-fleming-professor/?print=true. Retrieved 2020-03-13. Missing or empty
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(help) - "CIRTL & PROF-it Series: Inclusive Pedagogy workshop with Dr. Karen Fleming from JHU". myUMBC. 2018-03-01. Retrieved 2020-03-13.
- "Inclusive Excellence". Inclusive Excellence. Retrieved 2020-03-13.
- "The Women of Hopkins". the-women-of-hopkins. Retrieved 2020-03-13.
- "Overcoming Implicit Bias Discussion with Dr. Karen Fleming". johnshopkins.campuslabs.com. Retrieved 2020-03-13.
- "2015 Membrane Protein Folding Conference GRC". www.grc.org. Retrieved 2020-03-13.
- "Prof. Karen Fleming Wins 2016 Thomas E. Thompson Award". Biophysics. Retrieved 2020-03-13.
- "Karen Fleming wins Provost's Prize for Faculty Excellence in Diversity". Biophysics. Retrieved 2020-03-13.
- May 16, Hub staff report / Published; 2019 (2019-05-16). "Biophysicist Karen Fleming wins $50,000 Provost's Prize for Faculty Excellence in Diversity". The Hub. Retrieved 2020-03-13.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)