Contact Information:
416A Jenkins Hall
T. C. Jenkins Department of Biophysics
Johns Hopkins University
3400 North Charles Street
Baltimore MD 21218-2608
Office: 410-516-7256
Karen Fleming started out her science career at the University of Notre Dame with a BA in French and enough science electives to almost have either a Biology or a Chemistry degree. After graduation in 1987, she moved to Washington, DC and worked as a bilingual receptionist at the Embassy of Morroco but soon missed the stimulation of science and decided that a research career would be more interesting. She received her PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Georgetown University Medical School in 1993, where she was awarded a National Institute of Mental Health predoctoral fellowship. She pursued postdoctoral studies as an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow in the Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry Department at Yale University and joined the Johns Hopkins Department of Biophysics in 2000 where she is now a tenured Professor.
Her independent research program has been continuously funded since its inception from various agencies including the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the Department of Defense Research Division, from which she received both Career and Idea awards. Her research focuses on understanding the molecular basis for membrane protein thermodynamics and membrane protein folding pathways with the goal of gaining physical insight into how genetic mutations cause diseases when they occur in membrane proteins. She has authored or co-authored over 70 original research articles.
When Karen is not dreaming about membrane proteins, she enjoys sailing on the Chesapeake Bay; she dabbles in photography; she runs half-marathons; she researches genealogy, which traces her ancestors back to the Revolutionary war; she's learning to play the guitar and ukulele; she's been spotted doing karaoke "James Brown"; and she spends time hiking/biking/skiing/paddling with her husband and daughter.