Michael Lerner

Michael Lerner, associate professor of physics, is a computational biophysicist interested in understanding (and stopping!) cancer metastasis, in the basic biophysics of cell membranes, and in how proteins and nucleic acids move and interact. He earned his doctorate and master’s degree in biophysics from the University of Michigan, and a bachelor’s degree in physics from Haverford College. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health, and then spent 15 years as a professor of physics, engineering, and astronomy at Earlham College. In the middle of all of that, he took some time off of the academic track to work for City Year Chicago, to work as a software engineer, and to found a small company. His lab uses computational techniques to probe the intersection of physics, biology, and human health.

Selected Publications

Bernat Navarro-Serer, Maria F. Wissler, Brandi K. Glover, Michael G. Lerner, Harsh H. Oza, Vania Wang, Hildur Knutsdottir, Fatemeh Shojaeian, Kathleen Noller, Saravana Gowtham Baskaran, Sara Hughes, Alana M. Weaver*, Daniel Wilentz, Oluwatobiloba Olayemi, Joel S. Bader, Elana J. Fertig, Daniele M. Gilkes, Laura D. Wood. “P4HA1 mediates hypoxia-induced invasion in human pancreatic cancer organoids.” Cancer Research Communications, 2025.

Matthew C. Perrone, Michael G. Lerner, Matthew Dunworth, Andrew J. Ewald, Joel S. Bader. “Prioritizing drug targets by perturbing biological network response functions.” PLoS Computational Biology 20(6), 2024.

David Robert Bruce, James Borrelli, Gennifer Smith, Michael G. Lerner, Anne Raich. “Commonality of Failure Modes in New Engineering Program Development.” 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, 2023.

Yea Ji Jeong, Hildur Knutsdottir, Fatemeh Shojaeian, Michael G. Lerner, Maria F. Wissler, Elodie Henriet, Tammy Ng, Shalini Datta, Bernat Navarro-Serer, Peter Chianchiano, Benedict Kinny-Köster, Jacquelyn W. Zimmerman, Genevieve Stein-O’Brien, Matthias M. Gaida, James R. Eshleman, Ming-Tseh Lin, Elana J. Fertig, Andrew J. Ewald, Joel S. Bader, Laura D. Wood. “Morphology-guided transcriptomic analysis of human pancreatic cancer organoids reveals microenvironmental signals that enhance invasion.” The Journal of Clinical Investigation 133(8), 2023.

Ling Li, Gilad Halpert, Michael G. Lerner, Haijie Hu, Peter Dimitrion, Matthew J. Weiss, Jin He, Benjamin Philosophe, Richard Burkhart, William R. Burns, Russell N. Wesson, Andrew MacGregor Cameron, Christopher L. Wolfgang, Christos Georgiades, Satomi Kawamoto, Nilofer S. Azad, Mark Yarchoan, Stephen J. Meltzer, Kiyoko Oshima, Laura M. Ensign, Joel S. Bader, Florin M. Selaru. “Protein synthesis inhibitor omacetaxine is effective against hepatocellular carcinoma.” JCI Insight 6(12), 2021.

William C. Hahn, Joel S. Bader, Theodore P. Braun, Andrea Califano, Paul A. Clemons, Brian J. Druker, Andrew J. Ewald, Haian Fu, Subhashini Jagu, Christopher J. Kemp, William Kim, Calvin J. Kuo, Michael T. McManus, Gordon B. Mills, Xiulei Mo, Nidhi Sahni, Stuart L. Schreiber, Jessica A. Talamas, Pablo Tamayo, Jeffrey W. Tyner, Bridget K. Wagner, William A. Weiss, Daniela S. Gerhard, … Michael G. Lerner … “An expanded universe of cancer targets.” Cell 184(5), 2021.

Richard M. Venable, Helgi I. Ingolfsson, Michael G. Lerner, B. Scott Perrin Jr., Brian A. Camley, Siewert-J. Marrink, Frank L. H. Brown, Richard W. Pastor. “Lipid and peptide diffusion in bilayers: the Saffman-Delbrück model and periodic boundary conditions.” Journal of Physical Chemistry B 121(5), 2017.

Brian A. Camley, Michael G. Lerner, Richard W. Pastor, Frank L. H. Brown. “Strong influence of periodic boundary conditions on lateral diffusion in lipid bilayer membranes.” Journal of Chemical Physics 143(24), 2015.

Zachary Levine, Richard M. Venable, Max C. Watson, Michael G. Lerner, Joan-Emma Shea, Richard W. Pastor, Frank L. H. Brown. “Determination of Biomembrane Bending Moduli in Fully Atomistic Simulations.” Journal of the American Chemical Society 136(39), 2014.

Frank C. Pickard IV, Benjamin T. Miller, Vinushka Schalk, Michael G. Lerner, H. Lee Woodcock III, Bernard R. Brooks. “Web-Based Computational Chemistry Education with CHARMMing II: Coarse-Grained Protein Folding.” PLoS Computational Biology 10(7), 2014. (Paper highlighted in the PLoS editorial “Making Biomolecular Simulations Accessible in the Post-Nobel Era,” Ruth Nussinov and Quiang Cui.)

Jefferson D. Knight, Michael G. Lerner, Joan G. Marcano-Velázquez, Richard W. Pastor, Joseph J. Falke. “Single molecule diffusion of membrane-bound proteins: Window into lipid contacts and bilayer dynamics.” Biophysical Journal 99(9), 2010.

Michael G. Lerner, Kristin L. Meagher, Heather A. Carlson. “Automated clustering of probe molecules from solvent mapping of protein surfaces.” Journal of Computer-Aided Molecular Design 10, 2008.

Michael G. Lerner, Anna L. Bowman, Heather A. Carlson. “Incorporating Dynamics in E. coli Dihydrofolate Reductase Enhances Structure-based Drug Discovery.” Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling 47, 2007.

Anna L. Bowman, Michael G. Lerner, Heather A. Carlson. “Protein flexibility and species specificity in structure-based drug discovery: Dihydrofolate reductase as a test system.” Journal of the American Chemical Society 129(12), 2007.

Kristin L. Meagher, Michael G. Lerner, Heather A. Carlson. “Refining the multiple protein structure method: consistency across three independent HIV-1 protease models.” Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 49(12), 2006.

Leigi Hu, Mark L. Benson, Richard D. Smith, Michael G. Lerner, Heather A. Carlson. “Binding MOAD (Mother of All Databases).” Proteins: Structure, Function and Bioinformatics 60, 2005.