Ben Stinson

Ben studied biochemistry at the University of Pennsylvania, where he worked in the laboratory of Tobias Baumgart and investigated the biophysics of protein partitioning within plasma membranes. He then entered the PhD program at the MIT Department of Biology and joined the laboratory of Bob Sauer, where he used biochemical and biophysical techniques to study how a protein-unfolding machine, ClpX, harnesses the energy of ATP binding and hydrolysis to perform mechanical work. As a postdoc, Ben is pursuing his biochemical and biophysical interests in the laboratories of Johannes Walter and Joe Loparo at Harvard Medical School, where he uses single-molecule fluorescence techniques in Xenopus egg extracts to study DNA repair by the non-homologous end joining pathway. Outside the lab, Ben enjoys spending time with his family, cooking (and eating), riding his bike around Boston, and hiking in the Blue Hills with his dog.