Meet Michael Marty

Michael studies interactions between lipids and membrane proteins. His group profiles the local lipidome surrounding membrane proteins and investigates how those lipids affect protein structure and function, while developing mass spectrometry methods for examining protein structures and interactions.

“We are working on projects now that I dismissed a few years ago as being too hard,” he says. “Advances in molecular biology, separations, and mass spectrometry have all helped make possible what previously seemed like a pipe dream.” One development that has already transformed his laboratory is inexpensive gene synthesis, which enables researchers to custom-design proteins for specific analytical needs. “As AI-guided protein design continues to get better, I think we will see more analytical applications driven by bespoke proteins and custom gene synthesis.”

Training the next generation is Michael’s greatest concern. Rising costs and reduced funding have caused many graduate programs to contract, while attracting international students to the US has become harder. “My fear is that programs will start to drop below the threshold of viability,” he says. “Fewer and smaller programs mean that some who want to pursue a PhD will find it inaccessible, fewer new principal investigators will have the opportunity to start their own labs, existing investigators will struggle to maintain research programs, and employers will find it hard to hire people with the right skills. Everyone loses.”

A faulty prototype high-mass Orbitrap unexpectedly helped determine Michael’s career direction during his postdoctoral research. When Alexander Makarov visited the laboratory and fixed the instrument, Michael was stunned by the resulting nanodisc data. “Suddenly, instead of fighting the limits of the existing technology, I was thinking about all the exciting things we could do,” he says. “That one event directly led to me pursuing a tenure-track position.”

Earlier experience as a summer camp counselor also proved useful preparation for research, teaching him “how to build connections with people, be creative with the resources at hand, and take responsibility for keeping things clean and maintained.”