# Ashwin Chari
**Ashwin Chari** is a structural biochemist who leads the Research Group for Structural Biochemistry and Mechanisms at the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences in [Göttingen](https://www.edgepedia.org/gottingen), a post he has held since July 2020.[1](https://uni-goettingen.de/en/640057.html) His laboratory applies mechanistic biochemistry together with [X-ray crystallography](https://www.edgepedia.org/x-ray-crystallography) and cryo-electron microscopy to large macromolecular complexes involved in proteostasis and fatty acid metabolism, including the proteasome, fatty acid synthase, spliceosome, ribosome, and nucleosome.[1](https://uni-goettingen.de/en/640057.html)
| Key facts | |
|---|---|
| Field | Structural biology and mechanistic biochemistry of large macromolecular complexes[1](https://uni-goettingen.de/en/640057.html) |
| Current position | Research Group Leader, Structural Biochemistry and Mechanisms, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, since July 2020[1](https://uni-goettingen.de/en/640057.html) |
| Training | Diploma, ETH Zürich, 2004; Dr. rer. nat., University of Würzburg, 2009, summa cum laude, under Utz Fischer[1](https://uni-goettingen.de/en/640057.html) • [2](https://icdm10.org/authors/ashwin-chari/) |
| Earlier posts | Würzburg postdoc 2009–2011; DFG project leader at MPI-BPC 2011–2016; project group leader 2016–2020[1](https://uni-goettingen.de/en/640057.html) |
| Signature work | "Reconstruction of a fatty acid synthesis cycle from acyl carrier protein and cofactor structural snapshots", *Cell*, 2023[3](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S009286742301125X) |
| Known for | Spliceosomal snRNP assembly, proteasome structure, and inhibition, fatty acid synthase structure, and regulation[1](https://uni-goettingen.de/en/640057.html) |
| Funding | DFG individual grant on p97 structural dynamics, 2011–2015; doctoral support from the Swiss National Science Foundation and the DFG[4](https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/208200184?language=en) • [5](https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-40804) |
## Education and career
Chari studied biochemistry, molecular biology, and biophysics at ETH Zürich, completing his diploma in 2004.[1](https://uni-goettingen.de/en/640057.html) His doctoral work, funded in part by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, was carried out at the Institute of Biochemistry of the [University of Würzburg](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-wurzburg) under [Utz Fischer](https://www.edgepedia.org/utz-fischer); the thesis, "The Reaction Mechanism of Cellular U snRNP Assembly", was published on 10 December 2009 and examined how the spliceosome's U snRNPs are assembled in vivo by the PRMT5 and SMN complexes.[2](https://icdm10.org/authors/ashwin-chari/) • [5](https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-40804) The degree was awarded summa cum laude.[2](https://icdm10.org/authors/ashwin-chari/)
He stayed in Würzburg as a postdoc and project leader in the Department of Biochemistry from 2009 to 2011.[1](https://uni-goettingen.de/en/640057.html) According to his [University of Göttingen](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-gottingen) profile, in 2011 he moved to Göttingen as a DFG-funded independent project leader in the Research Group for 3D Cryo-[Electron Microscopy](https://www.edgepedia.org/electron-microscopy) at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry (MPI-BPC), where he served from 2011 to 2016; he was promoted to project group leader in the Department of Structural Dynamics in 2016 and held that post until 2020.[1](https://uni-goettingen.de/en/640057.html) • [2](https://icdm10.org/authors/ashwin-chari/) Since July 2020 he has led his own research group at the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences.[1](https://uni-goettingen.de/en/640057.html) His ORCID record (0000-0001-6220-9828) still lists the MPI-BPC as his employment, while the university and institute pages place his group at MPI-NAT.[6](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6220-9828) • [1](https://uni-goettingen.de/en/640057.html)
## Research
Spliceosomal snRNP assembly. Spliceosomal small nuclear ribonucleoproteins (snRNPs) are the RNA-protein particles from which the spliceosome is built, and their assembly in the cell requires a dedicated machinery of assembly factors. Chari's 2008 *Cell* paper showed that pICln, a component of the PRMT5 complex, induces the formation of an otherwise unstable higher-order Sm protein unit that is kinetically trapped and cannot associate with snRNA on its own; the SMN complex then binds these Sm units, displaces pICln, and catalyzes ring closure on the snRNA.[7](https://pure.mpg.de/rest/items/item_641696_5/component/file_641695/content) The paper identified pICln as an assembly chaperone and the SMN complex as a catalyst of snRNP formation, a division of labor the authors likened to DNA clamp loaders.[7](https://pure.mpg.de/rest/items/item_641696_5/component/file_641695/content)
Proteasome structure and inhibition. In work at MPI-BPC, his group determined the three-dimensional structure of the human proteasome, a barrel-shaped degradation machine of more than 50,000 atoms, at a resolution of 1.8 Ångström, precise enough to pinpoint single atoms, in collaboration with EMBL.[8](https://www.mpinat.mpg.de/652585/pr_1628) The structures were solved with four different inhibitors already in clinical use or in clinical trials, establishing the exact chemical mechanism by which each blocks the proteasome and providing a structural basis for designing improved inhibitors.[8](https://www.mpinat.mpg.de/652585/pr_1628) The purification and crystallization procedure developed for this work became the basis of a patent application, and the group estimated that industrial screening of several hundred compounds per week could be feasible with it.[8](https://www.mpinat.mpg.de/652585/pr_1628)
[Fatty acid synthase](https://www.edgepedia.org/fatty-acid-synthase). A second strand concerns fatty acid synthase (FAS), the multi-enzyme factory that makes fatty acids. According to a 2020 *Cell* paper, a regulatory subunit of the yeast fatty acid synthase was discovered.[9](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32160528/) In 2023 his group, together with the institute's structural dynamics department, resolved the *Saccharomyces cerevisiae* FAS structure at 1.9 Å, a level of detail at which enzyme reactions can be observed directly and a complete fatty acid production cycle can be tracked.[3](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S009286742301125X) • [10](https://www.mpinat.mpg.de/chari)
## Representative work
According to the 2023 *Cell* article "Reconstruction of a fatty acid synthesis cycle from acyl carrier protein and cofactor structural snapshots" (published 9 November 2023, with Chari among the corresponding authors), the yeast FAS structure was resolved at 1.9 Å, elucidating the cofactors and the water networks involved in their recognition.[3](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S009286742301125X) Structural snapshots of acyl carrier protein domains bound to the various enzymatic domains allowed the authors to reconstruct a full yeast fatty acid biosynthesis cycle, and proof-of-concept experiments showed that ectopic proteins can be used to modulate the product profile of FAS.[3](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S009286742301125X) The corresponding cryo-EM map is deposited in the [Protein Data Bank](https://www.edgepedia.org/protein-data-bank) as entry 8PRW.[11](https://www.rcsb.org/structure/8PRW)
## Group and methods
The group's stated approach is to combine mechanistic biochemistry with X-ray crystallography for large complexes, and to develop biochemical tools that purify, stabilize, and arrest such complexes in distinct functional states, so that individual steps of a reaction can be captured structurally.[10](https://www.mpinat.mpg.de/chari) It also develops methods for X-ray data collection, phasing, structure determination, and refinement of large complexes, and applies time-resolved approaches to study the dynamic aspects of their function.[10](https://www.mpinat.mpg.de/chari) This crystallographic core is complemented by cryo-EM, used for example on the yeast fatty acid synthase.[11](https://www.rcsb.org/structure/8PRW) The group's method development has recently extended toward quantum crystallographic methods applied to ultra-high-resolution enzyme structures in various reaction states.[2](https://icdm10.org/authors/ashwin-chari/)
## Funding and recognition
GEPRIS, the DFG grant database, records Chari as the applicant of an individual project on the structural dynamics of the AAA+ ATPase p97 across its ATPase cycle, including proteinopathy-causing mutations, running from 2011 to 2015 in the subject area Structural Biology at MPI-BPC.[4](https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/208200184?language=en) • [12](https://gepris.dfg.de/person/208200172) According to his dissertation, *The Reaction Mechanism of Cellular U snRNP Assembly*, his doctoral research was supported in part by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the DFG, and his doctorate was awarded summa cum laude.[5](https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-40804) • [2](https://icdm10.org/authors/ashwin-chari/) A patent application on the proteasome purification and crystallization procedure is documented.[8](https://www.mpinat.mpg.de/652585/pr_1628)
## Recent developments
Between 2024 and September 2026 the group's output has centered on [proteasome assembly](https://www.edgepedia.org/proteasome-assembly) and human fatty acid synthase. A *Nature Communications* article published on 7 February 2024 examined protein degradation by human 20S proteasomes and elucidated the interplay between peptide hydrolysis and splicing.[6](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6220-9828) Methodological work continued with a journal article, "Peptide bonds strike back", in *IUCrJ* on 1 May 2025,[6](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6220-9828) and a study of radiation damage in low-dose sub-Ångström macromolecular crystallography published in *Acta Crystallographica Section D* on 1 May 2026.[6](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6220-9828)
## References
1. [Chari, Ashwin, Structural Biochemistry and Mechanisms, University of Göttingen CV page](https://uni-goettingen.de/en/640057.html)
2. [Ashwin Chari, ICDM10 author biography](https://icdm10.org/authors/ashwin-chari/)
3. [Reconstruction of a fatty acid synthesis cycle from acyl carrier protein and cofactor structural snapshots, Cell (2023)](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S009286742301125X)
4. [DFG GEPRIS project 208200184: Structural dynamics of the AAA+ ATPase p97](https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/208200184?language=en)
5. [The Reaction Mechanism of Cellular U snRNP Assembly (dissertation, Würzburg University, 2009)](https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-40804)
6. [Ashwin Chari, ORCID 0000-0001-6220-9828](https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6220-9828)
7. [An Assembly Chaperone Collaborates with the SMN Complex to Generate Spliceosomal SnRNPs, Cell (2008)](https://pure.mpg.de/rest/items/item_641696_5/component/file_641695/content)
8. [Every atom counts, Max Planck Institute press release](https://www.mpinat.mpg.de/652585/pr_1628)
9. [Discovery of a Regulatory Subunit of the Yeast Fatty Acid Synthase, PubMed record (Cell, 2020)](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32160528/)
10. [Research Group Chari, Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences](https://www.mpinat.mpg.de/chari)
11. [PDB 8PRW: Cryo-EM structure of the yeast fatty acid synthase](https://www.rcsb.org/structure/8PRW)
12. [DFG GEPRIS person record 208200172, Dr. Ashwin Chari](https://gepris.dfg.de/person/208200172)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Life and health › Life and health scientists › Life scientists › Researchers in structural biology, biochemistry, and biophysics › Protein folding and chaperones*
*Initially written Sep 21, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 25, 2026; Oct 15, 2026 · Last review: Sep 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license