Ahmad Reza Mehdipour

Tenure-track assistant professor Center for Molecular Modeling (CMM), Ghent University 

Biography

Ahmad Reza Mehdipour is a Tenure-track Assistant Professor at the Center for Molecular Modeling (CMM) at Ghent University (UGent), Belgium. Bridging the disciplines of structural biology, physics, and computing, his research program focuses on "Computational microscopy"—using advanced computer simulations to solve complex biological puzzles and investigate cellular architectures at the molecular level. 

Dr. Mehdipour began his academic career in pharmaceutical sciences, earning his Pharm.D. from the Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in 2007. Driven by an interest in the underlying physics of biological systems, he moved into computational structural biology, completing his PhD jointly at Goethe University Frankfurt and the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics in Germany in 2015. He then spent six years as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Theoretical Biophysics at the Max Planck Institute, where he developed innovative hybrid modelling frameworks to capture the dynamic, continuous movements of molecular machines in action. He assumed his current faculty position at Ghent University in 2021.

Research interests

Dr. Mehdipour’s laboratory focuses on the mesoscale modeling of cellular architectures, protein-membrane interactions, and transport mechanisms. Key areas of inquiry include: 

• Mesoscale and hybrid modeling: Combining experimental data (such as in-cell Cryo-Electron Tomography density maps) with atomistic molecular dynamics simulations to visualize mechanical forces and membrane remodeling. 
• Computational glycobiology: Quantifying the thermodynamic and mechanical roles of complex surface glycans in protein-protein interactions and viral infections. 
• Membrane transporter mechanisms: Demystifying the conformational complexity and dynamic cycles of diverse membrane receptor and exporter complexes.

Selected publications

• In-cell structure of a LINC complex reveals the molecular basis for membrane remodelling and head-to-tail coupling in sperm cells. Dendooven T^#, Ebrahimi M, dos Santos A, Dhondt W, Knowles O, Hale T, Burt A, Mehdipour AR^#, Allegretti M^#. bioRxiv, 2025. (^# Co-corresponding)
• Mechanistic basis of teichoic acid transport by a gatekeeper flippase. Cebrero G, Chidananda AH, Dénéréaz J, Céster E, Mathew AT, Bhowmik RD, di Capitani M, Raymond JL, Kannan N, Veening JW^#, Mehdipour AR^#, Perez C#. Nature Communications, 2026. (^# Co-corresponding) 
• Dual nature of human ACE2 glycosylation in binding to SARS-CoV-2 spike. Mehdipour AR^#, Hummer G^#. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2021. (^# Co-corresponding) 
• Conformation space of a heterodimeric ABC exporter under turnover conditions. Hofmann S*, Januliene D*, Mehdipour AR*, Thomas C, Stefan E, Brüchert S, Kuhn BT, Geertsma ER, Hummer G, Tampé R, Moeller A. Nature, 2019. (* First co-authorship)
• Evidence for a trap-and-flip mechanism in a proton-dependent lipid transporter. Lambert E*, Mehdipour AR*, Schmidt A, Hummer G, Perez C. Nature Communications, 2022. (* First co-authorship)