TSRI Faculty Interests

X-Ray Crystallography

Balch, William E. 
is interested in the biochemical and molecular basis for vesicular trafficking from the endoplasmic reticulum to the cell surface, particularly in the structures, functions, and mechanisms of control exerted by small GTP-binding proteins.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Otomo, Takanori  
studies structure and function of proteins involved in the autophagic pathway.

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.

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.

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.

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.