Worden Laboratory

Structural Biology of Epigenetic Complexes

Approximately 45% of the human genome consists of repetitive DNA sequences derived from endogenous retrotransposons. While formerly derided as “junk” DNA, these ancient mobile DNA elements have played a major role in shaping our genome and continue to pose serious risks to genome integrity and human health. Because of the acute danger of retrotransposon expression, the cell has evolved intricate epigenetic mechanisms to repress retrotransposon expression using both histone and DNA modifications. Our lab leverages cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) to decipher the structural and biochemical mechanisms that regulate the chromatin-modifying complexes that regulate the expression of retrotransposons, which are important for the formation of cancer and are attractive targets for anti-cancer treatments.

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141 peer-reviewed papers published in 2025, 74 of which were in high-impact journals
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Evan Worden, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Department of Structural Biology

Areas of Expertise

Structural biology, cryo-EM, epigenetics, ubiquitin, posttranslational modifications, DNA-protein complexes, biochemical reconstitutions

Biography

Dr. Evan Worden leverages breakthrough technologies such as cryo-EM to investigate the epigenetic mechanisms underpinning cancer, with a focus on posttranslational histone modifications. He earned his Ph.D. in molecular and cell biology from University of California, Berkeley, under the mentorship of Dr. Andreas Martin. Dr. Worden’s graduate work explored protein degradation by the 26S proteasome and answered long-standing questions about the mechanisms that link ubiquitin removal and protein degradation. From there, he joined the lab of Dr. Cynthia Wolberger at Johns Hopkins University as a postdoctoral fellow. Using cryo-EM and biochemical approaches, he elucidated novel functions of Dot1L and COMPASS, two histone lysine methyltransferases that play key roles in gene transcription. In 2021, Dr. Worden joined Van Andel Institute’s Department of Structural Biology as an assistant professor.

He has earned numerous prestigious awards for his research, including a Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, the Paul Ehrlich Award for Postdoctoral Research from Johns Hopkins, and the Nicholas Cozzarelli Prize for best Ph.D. thesis from University of California, Berkeley. In 2020, he was a finalist for the Damon Runyon Dale Frey Award.