Dr. Tamm received his basic training in molecular biosciences at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel, Switzerland. He spent a year at Cornell University studying microtubules by electron microscopy as part of his Master’s thesis (1978). He then joined the group of Joachem Seelig at the University of Basel where he earned his PhD in biophysics (1982). After postdoctoral training with Harden McConnell at Stanford University (1982-1984), he became a junior faculty member at the University of Basel.
Dr. Tamm joined the University of Virginia in 1990. He also continues as the director of the Center for Membrane and Cell Physiology.
Dr. Tamm’s lab is at the forefront of solving membrane protein structures by NMR, developing single molecule tracking and single vesicle fusion technology in cell entry of enveloped viruses and in synaptic vesicle release, and developing methods to measure lipid and protein targeting in supported membranes and lipid “rafts” of cell membranes. He has published more than 170 research and review articles; and served as an associate editor of Biophysical Journal and as a member of the editorial boards of several other biological sciences journals. He has trained a large number of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows many of whom now hold faculty positions, work in industry or in public policy in the US and across the world. He has served on and chaired multiple US and foreign grant review and advisory panels. He served as Secretary and is Past-President of the Biophysical Society.