Overview
Barry Honig is a professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics and systems biology, professor of medical sciences (in medicine), and director of the Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics at Columbia. He has made key advances in understanding the biophysics of macromolecules.
His lab research starts from the hypothesis that sequence and structural information combined with biophysical analysis and machine learning can reveal the fundamental physical principles that underlie a wide range of biological phenomena. They currently have research programs focusing on: a) the integration of structural biology and systems biology through the prediction of protein-protein interactions; b) how highly specific protein-protein interactions mediate the wiring of neural circuits; c) optimizing antibodies using free energy perturbation methods. His work includes theoretical research, biophysical measurements, the development of software tools, and specific applications to problems of biological importance.
Research Interests
- Genome-wide studies of protein-protein and protein-compound interactions
- Cell-cell recognition
- Protein/DNA interactions
Academic Appointments
- Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics and Systems Biology; Professor of Medical Sciences (in Medicine)
Administrative Titles
- Director, Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
Credentials & Experience
Education & Training
- BS, 1963 Chemistry, Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, New York
- MS, 1964 Chemistry, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore
- PhD, 1968 Chemical Physics, Weitzmann Institute of Science (Israel)
Honors & Awards
NSF Graduate Fellowship, Johns Hopkins University, 1963-1964; NSF Graduate Fellowship, Weizmann Institute of Science, 1964-1966; NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship, Harvard University, 1968-1970; President, Biophysical Society 1990-1991; Deans Distinguished Lecture, Columbia University, 1994; NIH Merit Award, 1995; Fellow of the Biophysical Society, 1999; Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), 2000; Founders Award, Biophysical Society, 2002; T.Y. Shen Lectureship in Biological Chemistry, MIT, 2004; Sir John Kendrew Lecturer, Weizmann Institute, 2004; Elected, National Academy of Sciences, 2004 ; Fellow of American Associate for the Advancement of Science, 2006; Alexander Hollaender Award, National Academy of Science, 2007; Elected, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2007; Sackler Lecturer, Tel Aviv University, 2010-2011; Christian B. Anfinsen Award, Protein Society, 2011; DeLano Award in Computational Biosciences, American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 2012; Fellow of the International Society of Computational Biology (ISCB), 2016
Research
Selected Publications
- Honig, B. and Shapiro, L. (2020) Adhesion Protein Structure, Molecular Affinities, and Principles of Cell-Cell Recognition. Cell 181:520-535.
- Broyde, J., Simpson, D.R., Murray, D., Paull, E.O., Chu, B. W., Tagore, S., Jones, S.J., Griffin, A.T., Giorgi, F.M., Lachmann, A., Jackson, P., Sweet-Cordero, E.A., Honig, B. and Calfiano, A. (2021) Oncoprotein-specific molecular interaction maps (SigMaps) for cancer network analyses. Nature Biotech. 39:215-224.
- Trudeau, S.J., Hwang, H., Mathur, D., Begum, K., Petrey, D., Murray, D. and Honig, B. (2023) PrePCI: A Structure- and Chemical Similarity-Informed Database of Predicted Protein Compound Interactions. Protein Science. e:4594.
- Petrey, D., Zhao, H., Trudeau, S., Murray, D. and Honig, B. (2023) PrePPI: A Structure Informed Proteome-Wide Database of Protein-Protein Interactions. J. of Mol. Biol. 435:168052.
- Zhao, H., Murray, D., Petrey, D. and Honig, B. (2024) ZEPPI: Proteome-Scale Sequence-Based Evaluation of Protein-Protein Interaction Models. Proc. Natl. Acad. of Sci. 21:e2400260121