Jason McLellan, PhD

Jason McLellan specializes in understanding the structure and function of viral proteins, including those of coronaviruses. His research focuses on applying structural information to the rational design of vaccines and other therapies for viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. McLellan and his team collaborated with researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ Vaccine Research Center to design a stabilized version of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, which forms the basis of several leading COVID-19 vaccine candidates, including those by Moderna, Novavax, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer/BioNTech.

Dr. McLellan earned a BS in chemistry with an emphasis in biochemistry from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Afterward, he obtained his PhD from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland in the laboratory of Dr. Daniel Leahy. He then carried out postdoctoral research at the National Institutes of Health's Vaccine Research Center in the laboratory of Dr. Peter Kwong and in collaboration with Dr. Barney Graham. In the Fall of 2013, he joined the faculty at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth in the Department of Biochemistry, and in January 2018 he moved his laboratory to the University of Texas at Austin and became a member of the Department of Molecular Biosciences.

Awards: 
2020 William Prusoff Memorial Award (International Society for Antiviral Research)

2019 Viruses Young Investigator in Virology Prize

2018 American Crystallographic Association Etter Early Career Award

2015 Charles H. Hood Foundation Child Health Research Award

2012 Norman P. Salzman Memorial Award in Virology