Alper Karagöl

Alper Karagöl is a postdoctoral fellow in the MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering focusing on how AI, computational structural biology, and medicine can be combined to develop next-generation therapeutic technologies. He investigates how protein structure, molecular evolution, and alternative splicing shape the function of membrane proteins implicated in neurological and other human diseases. During his medical training, he led studies of neurotransmitter transporters, G protein-coupled receptors, and disease-associated proteins, combining molecular dynamics simulations, evolutionary analyses, and AI-driven structural prediction tools to uncover mechanisms governing protein stability, solubility, and oligomerization. His work advanced our understanding of water-soluble QTY-designed protein variants and revealed how truncated isoforms can regulate protein interactions, offering new avenues for therapeutic design. As an MIT-Novo Nordisk Artificial Intelligence Postdoctoral Fellow, Alper will develop autonomous, AI-guided biological systems that integrate engineered cellular sensors, genetic control circuits, and biomaterials to maintain physiological balance. His work could enable programmable therapies that respond dynamically to disease signals, reduce reliance on conventional dosing strategies, and support more precise, personalized, and durable treatments for complex human diseases.