Anthony W.P. Fitzpatrick

Trained as a biophysicist by Prof. Sir Christopher M. Dobson, F.R.S., at the University of Cambridge, Prof. Fitzpatrick balanced protein misfolding research with playing semi-professional rugby (Cambridge “Blue” ’07) to earn a Ph.D. in the structure and biophysics of protein aggregates, solving the first atomic structure of an amyloid fibril (in close collaboration with Prof. Helen R. Saibil, F.R.S., at Birkbeck College, and Prof. Robert G. Griffin, at MIT). As an outgoing international Marie Curie Fellow at CalTech, he and Prof. Ahmed H. Zewail, Nobel Laureate, pioneered ultrafast time-resolved cryo-electron crystallography of proteins by combining electron and laser optics. During the Marie Curie incoming phase, he worked with Profs. Sjors Scheres, F.R.S., and Michel Goedert, F.R.S., at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology during the tremendously exciting early days of the cryo-electron microscopy “resolution revolution.” With improvements in cryo-electron microscopy, Prof. Fitzpatrick and colleagues solved the first ex vivo atomic models of Alzheimer’s disease-related tau filaments, paving the way for the investigation of these previously intractable and important structures in a range of neurodegenerative diseases. The Fitzpatrick lab continues to solve brain-derived filaments implicated in neurodegeneration. In addition, his lab has assembled a cryo-electron tomography pipeline to explore the effects of amyloid formation in neurons and glia, and is currently developing the world’s first ultrafast pulsed laser phase plate as a way to enhance contrast in cryo-electron tomograms.