Lee Makowski

About

Lee Makowski received his B.S. at Brown University in Physics, and Masters and Ph.D. at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Electrical Engineering. After doing postdoctoral research at Brandeis University in Structural Biology, he joined faculty of the College of Physician and Surgeons at Columbia University in the Biochemistry Department. He moved to Boston University as Professor of Physics and later accepted a position as Director of the Institute of Molecular Biophysics at Florida State University. In 1998 he joined the National Science Foundation where he was a Program Director first in the Biology Directorate and then in the Division of Materials Science. From 2000 until 2010 he was at Argonne National Laboratory, first as Biosciences Division Director and then as Senior Scientist. He moved to Northeastern in the fall of 2010. He is an author of over 100 scientific research papers and numerous review articles on innovative analyses of biophysical data with focus on x-ray and neutron scattering and x-ray imaging.

Selected Publications

• Nepal, P.,  Bashit, A.A., L. Yang   and L. Makowski (2022). Small-angle x-ray microdiffraction from fibrils embedded in tissue thin sections. (submitted for publication).
• Bashit, A.A., P. Nepal, T. Connors, D.H. Oakley, B.T. Hyman,L.Yang and L. Makowski (2022) Mapping the spatial distribution of fibrillar polymorphs in human brain tissue. Frontiers in Neuroscience (in press).
• Liu, J. and L. Makowski (2022) Scanning x-ray microdiffraction:  In situ molecular imaging of tissue and materials. Current Opinion in Structural Biology (in press).
• Djagbletey, R., Aniteye, E., Darkwa, E.O., Sarpong, P., Aryee, G., Ohene, B.E., Kpodonu, J., Makowski, L. and Smallwood, C.D. (2022) A Simplified Adult Expiratory Support Device: First Clinical Cases in a Low-Resource Setting. The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, 113(3), pp.1021-1025.
• Hossain, M.A., Richa Sarin, Daniel P. Donnelly, Brandon C. Miller, Samantha Watson, Jenifer N. Winters, Jeremy B. Conway, Durgalakshmi Sivasankar, Aparna C. Ponmudiyan, Tanvi Gawde, Sunanda Kannapadi, Yunqiu Chen, Jared R. Auclair, Joseph P. Salisbury, Roman Manetsch, Mary Jo Ondrechen, Gregory A. Petsko, Lee Makowski and Jeffrey N. Agar (2022) Protein crosslinking as a therapeutic strategy for SOD1-related ALS BioRxiv.
• Billiar, K., Donald P. Gaver, Kenneth Barbee, Anita Singh, John D. DesJardins, Beth Pruitt, Joe Tranquillo, Glenn Gaudette, Beth Winkelstein, Lee Makowski, Jenny R. Amos, Ann Saterbak, Joe LeDoux, Brian Helmke, Michele Grimm, Paul Benkeser (2022) Learning Environments and Evidence-Based Practices in Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering. 10.1007/s43683-021-00062-z
• Packer, M.R. J.A. Parker, J.K. Chung, Z. Li, Y.K. Lee,  T. Cookis, H. Guterres, S. Alvarez,  M.A. Hossain, D.P. Donnelly, J.N. Agar, L. Makowski, M. Buck, J.T. Groves, and C. Mattos. (2021) Raf promotes dimerization of the Ras G-domain with increased allosteric connections. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118 (10).
• Makowski, Lee, Olson-Sidford, William, W. Weisel, John (2021). Biological and Clinical Consequences of Integrin Binding via a Rogue RGD Motif in the SARS CoV-2 Spike Protein. Viruses, 13(2),146. 10.3390/V13020146
• Huang, Lei, Wright, Michelle, Yang, Sichun, Blachowicz, Lydia, Makowski, Lee, Roux, Benoît (2020). Glycine substitution in SH3-SH2 connector of Hck tyrosine kinase causes population shift from assembled to disassembled state. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta – General Subjects, 1864(7),129604. 10.1016/J.BBAGEN.2020.129604
• Makowski, Lee (2020). The Structural Basis of Amyloid Strains in Alzheimer’s Disease. ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering, 6(5),2498-2505. 10.1021/ACSBIOMATERIALS.9B01302
• Ngu, Lisa, Winters, Jenifer N., Makowski, Lee, Beuning, Penny J., Ondrechen, Mary Jo (2020). Distal Residues and Enzyme Activity: Implications for Personalized Medicine. Biophysical Journal, 118(3),535a-536a. 10.1016/J.BPJ.2019.11.2937
• Ngu, Lisa, Winters, Jenifer N., Nguyen, Kien, Ramos, Kevin E., DeLateur, Nicholas A., Makowski, Lee, Whitford, Paul C., Ondrechen, Mary Jo, Beuning, Penny J. (2020). Probing remote residues important for catalysis in Escherichia coli ornithine transcarbamoylase. PLoS ONE, 15(2),e0228487. 10.1371/JOURNAL.PONE.0228487
• B. Roig-Solvas, D.H, Brooks, L. Makowski, FiXR: A Framework to Reconstruct Fiber Cross- Sections from X-Ray Fiber Diffraction Experiments, Acta Crystallographica, 2020, D76
• B. Roig-Solvas, B.T. Hyman, L. Makowski, In Situ Saxs of Protein Deposits in Alzheimer’s Disease, bioRxiv, 2019
• L. Makowski, The Structural Basis of Amyloid Strains in Alzheimer’s Disease, ACS Biomaterials Science and Engineering, 2019
• H. Zhou, H. Guterres, C. Mattos, L. Makowski Predicting X‐Ray Solution Scattering from Flexible Macromolecules, Protein Science, 27, 2018, 2023-2036
• B. Roig-Solvas, L. Makowski, Calculation of the Cross-Sectional Shape of a Fibril from Equatorial Scattering, Journal of Structural Biology 200(3), 2017, 248-257

In the Media

Oct 05, 2023

Global warming: Act to Stop World Becoming Uninhabitable – Okyenhene Entreats World Leaders

Bioengineering Professor and Chair Lee Makowski was recently featured in the Ghanaian magazine Graphic Online, in an article titled “Global warming: Act to stop world becoming uninhabitable – Okyenhene entreats world leaders.” The article discusses the Okyanhene (the King of Akyem Abuakwa, from the Eastern Region of Ghana), Osaguefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin’s visit to Northeastern University […]

Faculty

Aug 22, 2023

Understanding the Molecular Mechanisms Underlying Alzheimer’s Disease

BioE Chair and Professor Lee Makowski, in collaboration with Massachusetts General Hospital, received a $2.1M NIH for “Fibrillar polymorphs in human brain tissue.” The research will use x-ray scanning microscopy to observe changes in the molecular structure of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles during disease with the goal of better understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the disease.

In the Media

Dec 14, 2022

Doctors, Biomedical Engineers Assess Abuakwa South Health Delivery

BioE Chair Lee Makowski was featured in the BusinessGhana article “Doctors, biomedical engineers assess Abuakwa South health delivery.”

Faculty

Dec 14, 2022

Ghana Biomedical Innovation Summit

The first week of December 2022, the Northeastern University Department of Bioengineering in partnership with the non-profit 4GBI sponsored two Bioinnovation events in Ghana.  On December 6, the Ghana Bioinnovation Workshop was held at the Kibi Presbyterian College of Education in Kyebi, Ghana.  On December 8, The Ghana Bioinnovation Symposium was held at the AH […]

Undergraduate

Dec 14, 2022

Bioengineering an Impact with ‘Give a Hand’

Isabela Castillo, an undergraduate bioengineering student, started the Give a Hand club on campus, which develops prosthetic hands for those in need and works in collaboration with Enabling the Future, a global network of volunteers making medical devices.

Faculty

May 11, 2021

Just What the Doctor Ordered

Human beings are some of the most complex systems in the world, and responses to illness, disease, and impairments manifest in countless different ways. When it comes to making sure that your system stays up and running, healthcare professionals typically have their own deep well of knowledge—but the addition of artificial intelligence tools offers unprecedented […]

Faculty

Feb 08, 2021

Blood Related Complications Due to COVID-19

BioE Chair and Professor Lee Makowski is researching if there is a connection between a spike protein in COVID-19 and blood-related complications from the disease. COVID-19 can affect the blood. Its spike protein may be the culprit. Main Photo: Lee Makowski, chair of the bioengineering department, holds a 3D printed model of COVID-19 showing spike […]

Faculty

Jan 27, 2021

Understanding the Most Dangerous Aspects of COVID-19

BioE Professor and Chair Lee Makowski published a perspective article in the journal Virus titled, “Biological and Clinical Consequences of Integrin Binding via a Rogue RGD Motif in the SARS CoV-2 Spike Protein,” which explains the most dangerous aspects of COVID-19.

Alumni

Jun 25, 2020

Bioengineers Develop Innovative Respiratory-Assist Device as Alternative to Ventilator

BioE alumnus Craig Smallwood, PhD’18, invented a respiratory-assist device as an alternative to a ventilator for low-resource environments. BioE Professor and Chair Lee Makowski, in collaboration with physicians at Korle Bu Hospital in Ghana, has made the first few of these devices available for use on patients suffering from respiratory distress.

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