TSRI Faculty Interests

Prion Diseases

Dyson, Helen Jane  
uses NMR to study the protein-folding process and to study the nature and behavior of unfolded and partly folded forms of proteins, including prion proteins and several newly-discovered, intrinsically unstructured proteins.

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.

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.

Powers, Evan  
is interested in the energetics and mechanisms of protein folding and aggregation.

Wuthrich, Kurt  
develops advanced techniques in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and applies them in protein structural biology and structural genomics projects.