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TSRI Faculty Interests
Infectious Diseases 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.
Beutler, Bruce
searches for genes that are required for normal immune function through germline mutagenesis and positional cloning.
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.
Bokoch, Gary
studies the control and integration of cellular activities initiated by GTP-binding proteins, seeking to determine how GTP-binding proteins function, how they are regulated at the molecular level, and how this regulation may be abnormal in various disease states.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Gascoigne, Nicholas
examines molecular and genetic interactions in T cell development and activation, including the spatiotemporal analysis of signaling cascades using fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) and other techniques to image molecular interactions in live cells.
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.
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.
Milligan, Ronald
uses cryo-electron microscopy and image analysis to study the structure and mechanism of action of large molecular machines such as actomyosin, kinesin-microtubules, MAPs-microtubles, VCP/p97 and dynein AAA ATPases, various membrane channels and transporters, and bacterial toxins.
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.
Mowen, Kerri
investigates the molecular events which control T helper cell and mast cell function, specifically studying a role for the posttranslational modification of arginine methylation by isolating novel substrates, determining the effects of arginine methylation on substrate function, and creating mice deficient in the enzymes that regulate arginine methylation.
Nemerow, Glen
investigates the interaction of adenovirus with host cells, looking at the basic mechanisms involved in virus attachment, internalization, membrane penetration, and nuclear localization, and seeking to design novel adenoviral vectors with increased capacity to deliver therapeutic genes to specific cell types.
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.
Oldstone, Michael
studies the interaction of viruses and the immune system, how viruses persist and the resultant disease, how a non-lytic virus alters the differentiation function of the infected cell, investigates infectious protein folding disease and uses transgenic mouse models to understand human diseases. Included are molecular explorations for how viruses suppress the immune system or on the other side of the coin, induce autoimmunity.
Ollmann Saphire, Erica
combines x-ray crystallography, biochemistry, and immunology to analyse proteins that play key roles in the pathogenesis of Ebola and other viral hemorrhagic fevers; structures of these proteins provide templates for vaccine design and enable rapid responses to newly emerging forms of the viruses.
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.
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.
Salomon, Daniel
investigates how molecular mechanisms driving immune cell activation and tissue injury, both critical components of cell and organ transplant rejection, are regulated at the gene transcriptional and proteomic level to map molecular networks that determine clinical outcomes.
Sauer, Karsten
We combine broad functional genomics approaches with traditional, hypothesis-driven research to identify and functionally characterize novel genes with important roles in lymphocyte development and function. A particular focus of the lab are signal transduction mechanisms downstream of the T cell receptor.
Schork, Nicholas
focuses on the development and implementation of analysis methods for understanding the genetic determinants of complex human traits and diseases such as cancer, neuropsychiatric disease, and cardiovascular disease. These methods focus on both the design, integration, and interpretation of studies making use of contemporary high throughput genomic technologies.
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.
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.
Tainer, John
develops and applies advanced tools for high-impact structural biology including combined x-ray scattering in solution and x-ray crystallography on complexes at his synchrotron beamline to bridge
from complexes and conformations to pathways and phenotypes by characterizing macromolecular machines, novel inhibitors, and the molecular basis for diseases and intervention strategies.
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.
Whitton, J. Lindsay
studies antiviral immunity mediated by the recognition of viral peptides by host cells, the basis of immunization with plasmid DNA vaccines, and the role of the immune system in viral pathogenesis during coxsackievirus infections.
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.
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