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TSRI Faculty Interests
Chemical Biology Barbas III, Carlos
designs zinc finger protein-based transcription factors for the directed regulation of gene expression and gene discovery; programs complex reaction mechanisms into antibodies and uses them to treat cancer; develops new approaches to catalytic asymmetric synthesis; and uses phage display methods to evolve antibodies with the potential to become new immunotherapeutic and gene therapeutic approaches to diseases like breast and ovarian cancer, melanoma, and AIDS.
Boger, Dale
works on the total synthesis of biologically active natural products using the tools of organic synthesis to identify, imitate, understand, exploit, and sometimes surpass what nature provides.
Cravatt, Benjamin
studies the action and regulation of chemical messengers, particularly the fatty acid amides, which mediate physiological phenomena like pain sensation, sleep, and thermoregulation; he designs and uses chemical probes for "active site proteomics," the global analysis of protein function.
Dickerson, Tobin
develops biochemical technologies for predicting and treating evolving disease such as influenza, hepatitis C, and cancer, high-throughput screening paradigms for protein-ligand agonists/antagonists, combating filarial parasites, and the modulation of botulinum neurotoxin.
Ding, Sheng
is applying arrayed large-scale chemical, cDNA, and siRNA libraries and novel high throughput cellular screens to identify and characterize small molecules and genes that can control stem cell fate in various embryonic and adult stem cell systems and modulate specific signaling pathways in development and regeneration.
Fedor, Martha
investigates RNA enzymes using enzymological and biochemical methods to learn how RNAs assemble into functional structures and catalyze biological transformations.
Finn, M.G.
uses viruses as building blocks for biologically active structures, diagnostic agents, immunogenic platforms, and drug delivery vehicles; and also develops new bioconjugation methods, enzyme inhibitors, and functional materials using "click chemistry," and studies organic and organometallic reaction mechanisms.
Gerace, Larry
seeks to understand the mechanisms for regulation of signaling and cell differentiation by components of the nuclear envelope, particularly in regard to muscle, and the machinery for posttranscriptional regulation of gene expression by nucleocytoplasmic transport, mRNA translation and protein turnover, with focus on HIV-1.
Getzoff, Elizabeth
aims to characterize functionally important protein conformational states by coupling crystallography, spectroscopy, molecular biology and computational analyses, and to apply that knowledge to protein and inhibitor design for key biological processes, including photoactivity, electron transfer, and enzyme catalysis.
Ghadiri, M.Reza
develops novel methods for the rational design and construction of functional and interesting bioorganic molecules, such as novel antimicrobial agents, catalytic peptides, biosensors, self-replicating systems, and molecular logic gates.
Goodin, David
is focused on the rational engineering of metalloenzyme catalysts in order to better understand the chemical diversity of natural enzymes and to generate novel catalysts of potential utility.
Gottesfeld, Joel
is concerned with protein-DNA interactions involved in the transcriptional regulation in animal cells and the development of small molecule inhibitors and activators of gene expression.
Janda, Kim
Investigates biological catalysts, development of methods for the detection of and protection against chemical/biological warfare agents, combinatorial chemical libraries, synthesis and evaluation of enzyme inhibitors, solid-phase organic synthesis, quorum sensing within bacterial systems, lead discovery and detection strategies for tropical diseases, antibody/peptide phage display libraries, cell-penetrating peptides as therapeutic delivery vehicles, and the application of immunopharmacotherapy in the treatment of drug addiction, cancer and obesity.
Johnson Jr., John
uses a variety of cellular and molecular biology methods to develop and test atomic resolution models of particle-related events in the virus life cycle; he also uses viruses as a paradigm for developing methods to determine atomic resolution models of cellular mega-structures.
Joyce, Gerald
studies the test-tube evolution of RNA and DNA enzymes, both to explore their potential biomedical applications and to examine their possible role in the early history of life on Earth.
Kelly, Jeffery
examines the bioorganic and biophysical chemistry of aberrant conformational changes in proteins associated with misfolding diseases, seeking to develop new approaches for preventing these diseases with purposefully designed small molecules.
MacRae, Ian
combines structural biology, biochemistry and cell biology to understand mechanisms of gene regulation by RNA interference.
Nicolaou, K.C.
works on the total synthesis of biologically active natural and designed molecules and the discovery and development of new synthetic strategies and technologies.
Noodleman, Louis
uses quantum chemistry and protein electrostatics to investigate the electronic structures and active site mechanisms of redox metalloproteins, such as respiratory iron-sulfur proteins, the nitrogen fixing nitrogenase enzyme, and the iron-oxo dimer enzymes methane monooxygenase and ribonucleotide reductase.
Paulson, James
studies carbohydrate recognition and the molecular biology of carbohydrate binding proteins, like CD22, which mediate key aspects of cell signaling in the immune system.
Quigley, James
uses in vivo models, directed enzyme inhibitors and specific function-blocking antibodies to identify pathways and molecules which contribute to tumor metastasis and angiogenesis.
Romesberg, Floyd
seeks to understand and evolve novel protein function by expanding the genetic code, to understand the molecular basis of DNA damage, repair, and mutagenesis, and to use femtosecond laser pulses to probe protein dynamics.
Stevens, Raymond
uses crystallography and biochemistry to probe the structure and function of molecules involved in neurotransmission and neurochemistry, seeking to understand how neuronal cells communicate at the molecular level and to create new molecules that affect neuronal signal transduction and recognition.
Torbett, Bruce
studies transcriptional regulation of myeloid development and function, develops and tests novel techniques for delivering genes to cells to provide protection against HIV or cancer; he also investigates how the structural changes in HIV protease contribute to biochemical functions that confer protease inhibitor resistance.
Williamson, Jamie
studies the structure and dynamics of RNA molecules and RNA-protein complexes involved in the regulation of gene expression by employing NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography for solving high-resolution three-dimensional structures and examining the mechanism of assembly of multiprotein-RNA complexes.
Wiseman, R. Luke
is interested in understanding the cellular and energetic factors that dictate intracellular protein folding as it relates to human disease.
Wong, Chi-Huey
directs his research towards the development of new chemical-enzymatic strategies for the synthesis of biologically active compounds and chiral intermediates; the design and synthesis of mechanism-based inhibitors of enzymes or receptors; the study of carbohydrate-based biological recognition and its intervention; and the investigation of reaction mechanisms.
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