Pappu named American Physical Society Fellow
Rohit Pappu was recognized for his research in intrinsically disordered proteins
Rohit V. Pappu, the Gene K. Beare Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering and director of the Center for Biomolecular Condensates at Washington University in St. Louis, has been selected as an American Physical Society Fellow.
Pappu was selected for his innovative and fundamental studies regarding intrinsically disordered proteins and phase transitioning behaviors using polymer physics approaches and molecular simulations, according to the American Physical Society.
The APS Fellowship Program recognizes members nominated by their peers who have made advances in physics through original research and publication or have made innovative contributions in the application of physics to science and technology. They may also have made significant contributions to the teaching of physics or service and participation in the activities of the society. The recognition is given to no more than one-half percent of the current membership of the society each year.
In addition to his roles in the McKelvey School of Engineering, Pappu is a member of the Hope Center for Neurological Disorders and of the Roy and Diana Vagelos Division of Biology & Biomedical Sciences’ Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology (BBSB) Program, both at the School of Medicine. From 2015-2021, Pappu held the Edwin H. Murty Professorship in the engineering school.
Pappu’s research focuses on the form, functions and phase transitions of intrinsically disordered proteins and multivalent macromolecules. His work, which is driven by a combination of polymer physics theories, computational biophysics, machine learning and biochemical experiments in vitro and in living cells, is aimed at understanding how molecular matter is organized in space and time within cells. These foundational studies have a direct impact on the mechanisms that underlie the onset of neurodegeneration and the processes that enable cell proliferation in cancer. Specifically, he focuses on neurodegenerative diseases, including Huntington’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). His work is enabling the design and discovery of novel, responsive protein- and peptide-based biomaterials, and the design of orthogonal condensates for synthetic biology applications.
Pappu was recently announced as the 2025 recipient of the ASBMB DeLano award for computational biosciences. He is also a Mercator fellow of the German Research Foundation, a fellow of the Biophysical Society, a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineers, and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has been named among the most highly cited researchers in the sciences worldwide for the past seven years by the Institute for Scientific Information and is a member of the Sigma Xi Scientific Research Honor Society. In 2019, he received the McKelvey Engineering Faculty Award for excellence in teaching, and in 2017, he received the Dean’s Award for outstanding contributions in service of the mission of the engineering school.
Pappu has served as a member of the Board of Reviewing Editors for eLife and Biophysical Journal. He has published more than 150 papers in peer-reviewed journals and has more than $1 million in ongoing funded research. Entrepreneurially, Pappu serves as a member of the scientific advisory board of Boston -based Dewpoint Therapeutics Inc., a company which targets biomolecular condensates that he was part of since its inception.
Prior to joining Washington University in 2001, Pappu completed postdoctoral research at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and at Washington University School of Medicine. He earned a doctorate in biological physics and a master’s degree in solid state physics and biological physics, all from Tufts University, and bachelor’s degrees in physics, mathematics and electronics from St. Joseph’s College at Bangalore University in Bangalore, India.
