Elijah Karvelis

Ph.D. Candidate, MIT Biological Engineering

I'm currently a Ph.D. candidate in Biological Engineering at MIT. Advised by Bruce Tidor, I work on advanced computational methods to help improve our understanding of enzyme catalysis, and I develop methods to engineer enzymes for altered and enhanced function. Prior to graduate school, I received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where in Brendan Harley's lab I worked on a microfluidic platform for investigating brain cancer. Broadly speaking, my research interests are in computational biophysics -- particularly molecular dynamics, machine learning, and protein design.

Molecular dynamics

Modeling how molecules move, relating dynamic behavior to function

Machine learning

Developing data-driven models to provide insight and guide experiments

Protein design

Implementing algorithms to re-engineer and enhance protein function