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TSRI Faculty Interests
HIV/AIDS Baran, Phil
explores new avenues for the efficient and practical construction of organic molecules, both naturally occurring and man-made, by pursuing longstanding synthetic challenges and by designing methods of broad utility.
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.
Burton, Dennis
focuses his research primarily on human antibody responses to HIV and the design of an HIV vaccine. He has also worked on the interaction of antibodies and other pathogens, including respiratory syncytial virus, Ebola virus and prion proteins.
Dawson, Philip
develops novel chemical ligation methodologies for the synthesis of natural and chemically engineered proteins to develop novel peptide based vaccines for HIV-1, study the molecular basis of protein folding and enzymatic catalysis, conjugate biological macromolecules to in complex systems such as cells, viruses and Quantum Dots and to develop synthetic protein pharmaceuticals.
Elder, John
focuses on the molecular and biological characterization of feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), which causes an AIDS-like disease in the domestic cat and is similar to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV); his goal is to develop drug treatments and vaccines that may be employed to treat viral infections in both humans and cats.
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.
Fokin, Valery
develops preactical catalytic transformations for organic synthesis, combinatorial chemistry, chemical biology, and materials research; searches for novel antiviral agents, nicotinic receptor ligands, and protease inhibitors.
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.
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.
Gruol, Donna
examines the pathways and mechanisms involved in neuronal signaling in the mammalian central nervous system (CNS), developmental expression of signaling pathways, and the neuroadaptive mechanisms through which CNS disease and drugs alter neuronal signaling and viability.
MacRae, Ian
combines structural biology, biochemistry and cell biology to understand mechanisms of gene regulation by RNA interference.
Millar, David
uses single-molecule fluorescence and time-resolved laser spectroscopy to study the dynamics of enzyme-DNA interactions and the folding of catalytic RNA molecules.
Morris, Kevin
is interested in understanding the mechanism of long antisense non-coding RNA mediated transcriptional regulation in human cells in order to develop small antisense non-coding RNA based approaches to regulate HIV-1 and human cancer.
Nemazee, David
studies "receptor editing," a novel immunological tolerance mechanism in which developing B lymphocytes that carry autoreactive cell surface antibody are stimulated to "reprogram" their immunoglobulin genes by further rounds of DNA recombination.
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.
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.
Sharpless, K. Barry
discovers new and useful transformations for organic synthesis, particularly employing inorganic catalysts and olefin-derived compounds of high reactivity; he also applies "in situ" click chemistry, which makes enzymes into reaction vessels and templates for the formation of their own inhibitors.
Stout, C. David
determines crystal structures of a variety of biological macromolecules, primarily integral membrane associated enzymes and proton pumps, cytochrome P450s, and iron-sulfur enzymes, and including HIV protease mutants, self-assembling peptides, and RNA-protein complexes, in order to understand structure-function relationships and establish mechanism.
Surh, Charles
studies how naive and memory T cells develop and survive under normal physiological conditions, and explores new ways of modulating T cells populations for treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases.
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.
Wilson, Ian
has broad structural biology and structural genomics programs to determine thee-dimensional structure and biological function in a number of systems related to humoral, cellular and innate immunity, human disease, drug and vaccine design, influenza virus, HIV-1 , the expanding protein universe and metagenomics.
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.
Zwick, Michael
dissects the molecular requirements of neutralization of HIV by antibodies, particularly those against the envelope glycoprotein, gp41; develops strategies for selecting HIV neutralizing antibodies and HIV envelope glycoprotein variants, to inform vaccine design.
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