Neshatul Haque, PhD

Dr. Neshatul Haque is a computational structural biologist and postdoctoral researcher in the Mellowes Center for Genomic Sciences & Precision Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin. With deep expertise in molecular biology and protein biophysics, his research focuses on the principles of molecular recognition, structural stability, and physicochemical interactions that govern protein complexes. He investigates how these finely tuned balances are altered by mutations, leading to dysfunction in disorders such as chromatinopathies, BAFopathies, rasopathies, and other rare genetic diseases. By integrating molecular modeling, large-scale molecular dynamics simulations, and machine learning with biophysical insight, Dr. Haque aims to move beyond sequence-based variant interpretation. His work leverages structural and dynamic signatures to predict functional consequences of genetic variation, providing a mechanistic framework for understanding disease at the molecular level. He earned his Ph.D. in Biotechnology from the University of Hyderabad, India, and has authored more than 25 peer-reviewed publications in journals including The American Journal of Human Genetics, iScience, and Frontiers in Genetics. He also serves as a reviewer for leading journals in computational and structural biology and has been recognized with honors such as the DST-SERB N-PDF Fellowship and the Amna-Nabi Young Scientist Award.

My research interests lie in understanding the principles of molecular recognition and structural stability that govern protein complexes in both healthy and diseased states. I investigate how mutations disrupt protein dynamics, physicochemical interactions, and conformational balance, leading to functional impairment and disease. To address these questions, I employ integrative modeling and molecular dynamics simulations to capture biomolecular mechanisms at atomic resolution, complemented by machine learning and structural feature engineering for predictive variant interpretation. By combining these approaches, I aim to move beyond sequence-level analysis and establish structure- and dynamics-based frameworks that connect genetic variation to functional outcomes. Ultimately, I seek to integrate high-resolution structural insights with systems-level biology to advance our understanding of chromatinopathies, BAFopathies, rasopathies, and other rare genetic disorders.