Faculty participating in the program hold appointments in either the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, or the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology.
| Faculty | Research Interests |
|---|---|
Craig A. Aspinwall | Cellular Function at the Interface of Analytical Chemistry and Cell Physiology |
Michael Brown | NMR spectroscopy; membrane proteins and lipid bilayers; receptors and biological signaling; vision |
Eli Chapman | Protein-guided therapeutic discovery; Chemical biology to study p97 biochemistry and biophysics; Small-molecule based therapeutic discovery and development |
Pascale Charest Chemistry/Biochemistry | Signaling mechanisms and directed cell motility |
Matthew Cordes | Structural Evolution and Conformational Switching in Proteins |
Indraneel Ghosh | Signal Transduction Pathways, Anti-Cancer Agents and Protein Based Biosensors |
Michael Heien Chemistry/Biochemistry | Measuring neurotransmitters and neuromodulators. Specifically to figure out how chemicals affext individual neurons and behavior. The goal of his research is to understand the molecular mechanisms behind synapse formation, the role of supporting cells in modulation of neurotransmission, and how these work to regulate behavior. |
Nancy Horton | Macromolecular structure and function; X-ray crystallography |
Victor J. Hruby | Asymmetric Synthesis; Biologically Active Peptides/Mimetics; Conformation-Activity Relationships |
Christopher Hulme | Enabling chemistries and platform technologies for the construction of targeted small molecule libraries that span possible applications across multiple target families |
Laurence H. Hurley | Development of antitumor agents |
John Jewett | Chemical virology - Developing chemical tools to study dengue virus |
Chemistry/Biochemistry | Membrane proteins play a number of critical biochemical roles and make up the majority of drug targets. Despite their importance, membrane proteins remain challenging systems for analysis due to their amphipathic nature and low expression levels. Moreover, the lipid bilayer can play an important but largely unexplored role in regulating membrane protein structure and function. New analytical and biochemical methods are necessary to better understand and design drugs to target membrane proteins. |
Katrina M. Miranda | Chemical Biology of Nitrogen Oxides; New Detection Techniques and Donors of Nitrogen Oxides; Drug Development |
William R. Montfort | Protein structure, function and dynamics; X-ray crystallography |
Jon Njardarson Chemistry/Biochemistry | Organic synthesis, medicinal chemistry and drug development |
Rebecca Page | X-ray crystallography NMR Spectroscopy Cell Signaling Cancer Antibiotic Resistance Protein Phosphatases Protein Kinases Toxin antitoxin systems |
Wolfgang Peti | NMR Spectroscopy X-ray crystallography Protein function Signaling cascades Cancer Diabetes Protein Phosphatases Protein Kinases |
Robin L. Polt | Cell-surface Carbohydrates |
S. Scott Saavedra | Interfacial Optics, Biofilms, Biosensors |
Rick Schnellmann | Identifying and developing drugs to treat acute kidney injury, diabetic kidney disease, stroke, spinal cord injury and Parkinson’s disease. |
Steve Schwartz Chemistry/Biochemistry | Understanding the atomic reaction coordinate of chemical reactions when catalyzed by enzymes and the function of complex protein motor assemblies. |
Catharine L. Smith | Epigenetic mechanisms of gene expression, their regulation through signaling pathways and modulation by anti-cancer drugs |
Deakyu Sun | Regulation of gene expression with chemicals |
Thomas Tomasiak Chemistry/Biochemistry | Advanced structural approaches (x-ray crystallography and cryo-EM) and membrane protein stabilization techniques based on lipid nanodiscs to address pharmacological problems involving eukaryotic lipid and drug transporters. |
Elisa Tomat Chemistry/Biochemistry | Biological inorganic chemistry of oxidative stress, wound healing, cell proliferation and cancer |
Jun Wang | Structure, mechanism, and inhibition of ion channels |
Georg Wondrak | Molecular pathways of skin photocarcinogenesis that involve cellular photooxidative and carbonyl stress; Developing chemical reagents into potent drugs that target reactive chemical intermediates |
Donna Zhang | The Nrf2/Keap1 signaling pathway that is activated by oxidative stress and chemopreventive compounds; Regulation of gene expression by the ubiquitination and proteasomal degradation pathway |