 |
 |
 Search this site:  |
Structural BiologyPlease note: Words in italics are the official PIBS affiliations of the indicated faculty. David P. Ballou, Ph.D. Mechanisms of biological redox reactions and reactions with oxygen, especially metalloproteins and flavoproteins; physical and chemical studies, including rapid reaction techniques and instrumentation development. Biological Chemistry. Biophysics.
James Bardwell, Ph.D. Protein folding catalysts, from
genetics to 3-D structures: role of molecular chaperones
and disulfide catalysts. Biophysics.
Biology. Cellular & Molecular Biology. Thomas Brock, Ph.D. Molecular and cellular aspects of cell-to-cell communication by polyunsaturated fatty acids, particularly in the contexts of immune defense and disease. Regulation of enzymes that convert fatty acids into alternative lipid mediators. Bioinformatics. Cellular & Molecular Biology. Internal Medicine Heather Carlson, Ph.D. Computer modeling of protein-ligand complexes. Interested in the basic biophysics of the process as well as drug design; also mine protein-ligand databases for proteomic information about ligand recognition. Biophysics. Bioinformatics. Dimitri Coucouvanis, Ph.D. Synthetic analogs for the active sites of metalloproteins. Biophysics. Chemistry. Gordon M. Crippen, Ph.D. Novel methods in conformational analysis: distance geometry; computational studies of ligand binding; prediction of protein folding. Biophysics. Bioinformatics.
Carol A. Fierke, Ph.D. RNA Processing. Protein
Prenylation. Structure, Mechanism and Inhibition of
metalloenzymes and ribozymes. Protein engineering of
biosensors and biocatalysts. Biological Chemistry. Biophysics. Ari Gafni, Ph.D. Spectroscopic studies of protein structure; aging phenomena at the molecular level; protein folding mechanisms in vitro and in vivo; protein misfolding in aging and disease; mechanisms of amyloid generation and deposition in diabetes and Alzheimer's disease. Biological Chemistry. Biophysics.
Gary Glick, Ph.D. Developing new methods to study the
structure, folding, and dynamics of both DNA and RNA.
Defining binding properties of anti-DNA autoantibodies
that arise in the autoimmune disorder systemic lupus
erythematosus. Immunology.
Chemistry. Cellular & Molecular Biology. Biophysics.
Biochemistry. Ursula Jakob, Ph.D. Oxidative stress and aging - Analysis of redox regulated proteins using biochemical, cell biological and proteomic tools. Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology. Cellular & Molecular Biology.
Tom Kerppola, Ph.D. Regulation of gene expression by
proto-oncogene transcription factors; protein
interactions in living cells and organisms; and
nucleoprotein complex architecture. Biological Chemistry. Biophysics. Ming Lei, Ph.D. Structural and functional studies of the molecular mechanism of human telomere and its regulation. with an emphasis in a multi-subunit complex (telosome) which forms the protective cap of the telomere. Biological Chemistry. David Lubman, Ph.D. The use of proteomics and glycoproteomics to study cancer biomarkers and the progression of disease. Our methods include protein fractionation techniques, liquid separations, mass spectrometry, protein microarrays and spectroscopic methods. We are also developing microproteomic methods to study stem cells and the tumor microenvironment. Surgery. Bioinformatics. Molecular and Cellular Pathology. Neil Marsh, Ph.D. Enzymology: Structure and mechanism of coenzyme B12 and S-adenosylmethionine-dependent radical enzymes. Protein Design: synthesis of "Teflon" proteins - introducing new properties into proteins using fluorinated amino acids. Biophysics. Biological Chemistry. Richard Neubig,
MD, Ph.D. Molecular mechanisms of signal
transduction; spectroscopic and rapid kinetic studies of
receptors, G proteins and their regulators; NMR structure
of receptor and G-protein peptides; mechanism of
alpha-adrenergic receptors. Bioinformatics. Biophysics.
Pharmacology. Patrick O'Brien, Ph.D. Biochemical, biophysical, and structural approaches to understanding mechanisms of human DNA repair. Biological Chemistry. Bruce Palfey, Ph.D. Mechanistic enzymology with a focus on flavoproteins involved in pyrimidine biosynthesis, tRNA maturation, inhibitor design, and structure/function relationships. Biological Chemistry. Vincent L. Pecoraro, Ph.D. Biological chemistry of manganese and vanadium; de novo design of metallopeptides. Biophysics. Chemistry. James E. Penner-Hahn, Ph.D. Structural characterization of metalloprotein metal sites; molecular mechanisms of photosynthesis; investigation of Zn biochemistry and the roles of Zn in development; EXAFS and X-ray absorption spectroscopy of proteins. Biophysics.
Sem H. Phan, MD, Ph.D. Mechanisms of fibrosis;
myofibroblast biology; regulation of þ-smooth
muscle actin gene expression; eosinophils and cytokines
in pulmonary fibrosis. Molecular and
Cellular Pathology.
Immunology. Malini Raghavan, Ph.D. Biochemical and molecular interactions underlying immune recognition events: interactions and biochemical mechanisms of function of the transporters associated with antigen processing; mammalian and viral Fc receptors and their interactions with immunoglobulin G. Microbiology & Immunology. Immunology. Biophysics. Cellular & Molecular Biology. Ayyalusamy Ramamoorthy, Ph.D. Structure, dynamics and function of membrane-associated proteins. Biophysics. Rudy J.
Richardson, ScD, DABT Mechanisms of neurological
disorders, stroke and autoimmune diseases and their
modulation by xenobiotics, genetics and age. Biomarkers
of xenobiotic exposure or disease. Interactions of
ligands with macromolecules using kinetics, molecular
modeling and mass spectrometry. Environmental
epidemiology. Scientific basis of risk assessment and
public health policy. Neuroscience. Gabrielle Rudenko, Ph.D.Determining the three-dimensional structure of proteins with important functions in the brain using x-ray crystallography, augmented with biochemical, biophysical as well as mutagenesis studies. Pharmacology. Life Sciences Institute Maria Sandkvist, Ph.D. Protein trafficking in bacterial pathogens. Microbiology & Immunology. Mark A. Saper, Ph.D. Structural biology of components of the type III secretion system essential for bacterial pathogenesis. Other current projects include a novel bacterial tyrosine kinase and phosphatase important for pathogenesis, and a family of aminotransferases essential for plant photorespiration. Protein crystallography is the main technique employed in the lab. Biological Chemistry. Biophysics. Gary Smith, Ph.D. Mammalian gamete and embryo developmental biology. Molecular & Integrative Physiology. Janet Smith, Ph.D. Structure-function studies of proteins using X-ray crystallography with an emphasis on complex enzymes and the replication proteins of flaviviruses and alphaviruses. Biological Chemistry. William L. Smith, Ph.D. Chemical processes underlying the biosynthesis and functions of prostaglandins. Current research is focused on understanding (a) the enzymology of prostaglandin endoperoxide H synthases (PGHSs) and (b) the regulation of PGHS gene expression. PGHSs are also known as "cyclooxygenases". Biological Chemistry. Roger Sunahara, Ph.D. Structure/function of the G-protein-coupled signaling cascade; molecular mechanisms of hormone receptor-mediated activation of G proteins; molecular mechanisms of activation and regulation of adenylyl cyclase. Pharmacology. John Tesmer, Ph.D. Structural studies of heterotrimeric G protein signaling using X-ray crystallography and other biophysical techniques. Life Sciences Institute, Pharmacology. Raymond C. Trievel, Ph.D. Structural and functional studies of enzymes that catalyze post-translational modifications of proteins, especially those involved in transcriptional regulation and chromatin remodeling. Biological Chemistry. Nils G.
Walter, Ph.D. Folding and function of non-coding RNA; structural and single molecule RNA enzymology; ribosome and spliceosome function by single molecule microscopy; single molecule systems biology. Biophysics. Cellular & Molecular Biology. Michael J. Welsh, Ph.D. Cellular stress response and stress-induced proteins; molecular mechanisms of toxicant action; regulation and function of hsp27 and related small stress proteins in muscle and cancer; cell biology; cell cytoskeleton and cytoskeletal proteins. Cell & Developmental Biology. Cellular & Molecular Biology. Lois Weisman, Ph.D. To uncover mechanisms of organelle inheritance, and to determine how these processes are spatially and temporally regulated. We have discovered that myosin V attaches to membranes via organelle-specific receptors. In addition inheritance requires a newly discovered signaling pathway. Cell & Developmental Biology. Cellular & Molecular Biology. Life Sciences Institute. Zhaohui Xu, Ph.D. Protein-protein interaction and molecular recognition; structural biology of protein folding, protein translocation, and cellular signal transduction; x-ray crystallography. Biological Chemistry. Charles F. Yocum, Ph.D. Mechanisms of photosynthetic energy transduction. Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology. Biophysics. Matt Young, Ph.D. Regulatory mechanisms of the Cyclin Dependent Kinases and other protein kinases. Structural studies and computational modeling of molecular dynamics in signaling proteins. Biological Chemistry. Bioinformatics. Robert Zand, Ph.D. Studies of posttranslational modification in human normal and multiple sclerosis myelin basic protein. Also studies of demyelination in genetically modified mice. These studies involve spectroscopic methods such as UV-Vis, IR, CD, Mass Spectrometry, and NMR.. Biological Chemistry. Biophysics. Erik R. P. Zuiderweg, Ph.D. Determination of three-dimensional structures of biomolecules and complexes of biomolecules in solution, using multidimensional heteronuclear NMR spectroscopy; NMR studies of biomacromolecular conformation and dynamics in solution, concentrating on methodology developments and on applications involving domains of Hsp-70 chaperone and metal binding proteins such as matrix-metalloproteinase proteins. Biophysics. Biological Chemistry. Chemistry. |
