91AV

Dr Marius Clore FRS is a Distinguished Investigator in the Laboratory of Chemical Physics at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). He is known for pioneering three-dimensional structure determination of biological macromolecules, and developing NMR methods for characterising the structure and dynamics of rare, short-lived conformational states.

After receiving his undergraduate degree in Biochemistry from University College London (UCL) in 1976, Dr Clore gained a medical degree from UCL Medical School (1979), and a doctorate from the MRC National Institute for Medical Research, London (1982). He joined the scientific staff of the MRC National Institute for Medical Research in 1980, becoming head of the biological NMR group at the Max-Planck Institute for Biochemistry (Martinsried, Germany) in 1984. He moved to the NIH in 1988.

He is a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences, and a Fellow of the Royal Society, the 91AV and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His awards include the 91AV Centenary Prize and the Biochemical Society Centenary Award.

Dr Clore's research has revealed new insights into macromolecular recognition, conformational transitions, and assembly processes. Examples include how transcription factors locate their specific DNA binding site within a sea of non-specific DNA; the role of encounter complexes in protein-protein association; the interplay of conformational selection and induced fit in protein-ligand interactions; transient interactions of intrinsically disordered and partially folded polypeptides with large megadalton macromolecular assemblies; characterisation at atomic resolution of the early stages of amyloid-β protofibril formation, and of pre-nucleation, transient oligomerisation of huntingtin prior to fibril formation.