Biomolecular Structure and Function
RNA, DNA, and proteins are complex macromolecules that carry out biological processes. Proteins are the worker molecules in your body and are exquisitely shaped to achieve their functions. DNA and RNA are involved in maintaining and transducing information. With the knowledge of the structure of a biological macromolecule we can begin to understand how it functions in a living organism and gain insight into how abnormal structures cause disease. We can manipulate activity for a desired biological outcome, and use the knowledge to design new therapeutics or diagnostics. Structures of biological macromolecules can also be used to design new/synthetic catalysts and materials to perform industrially relevant chemical reactions.
Faculty
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Natural Products; Genomics; Metagenomics; Biosynthesis; Enzymology; X-ray crystallography; Enzyme engineering; Chemical biology; Drug discovery
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Biophysics, Biochemistry, Chemical Biology, EPR spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, FT-IR spectroscopy, Photosynthesis, DNA synthesis, Proton coupled electron transfer, Redox signaling, Solar energy conversion, Biomimetics
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bioinorganic chemistry; synthetic organic chemistry; coordination chemistry; organic photophysics; trace metal homeostasis; copper proteins; fluorescent probes; fluorescence imaging; x-ray fluorescence microscopy; live cell imaging; two-photon excitation microscopy
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Chemical biology, Organic chemistry, Click chemistry, Catalysis, Materials chemistry, Chemical biology; Organic chemistry; Polymer science; Biomaterials; Immunology; Protein nanoparticles; Medicinal chemistry; Antiviral agents; Combinatorial chemistry; Molecular evolution; SELEX; Cell targeting; Backscattering interferometry
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Acid-β-glucosidase; Alzheimer; Amyloid; Aspartyl protease; Crystallization chaperones; Crystallography; Engineered antibody fragments; Gaucher disease; Intramembrane proteolysis; Lipid storage disorders; Membrane protein; Myocillin; Olfactomedin (OLF); Open angle glaucoma; Protein misfolding diseases; SER-CAT
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Synthetic Biology; Chemical Biology;
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Metallo-biochemistry, Metallo-chemical biology, Redox biology
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Structure & function of eukaryotic membrane proteins; membrane protein complexes; biophysics; cryo-EM; electron crystallography; 2D crystallization; image processing; inflammation; cancer
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Proteins; Post-translational modifications; PTMs; mass spectrometry; proteomics; bioinformatics; cell signaling; G proteins; yeast; pharmacology; systems biology; bioinformatics.
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Analytical Chemistry; Bio-analytical Chemistry, Mass spectrometry (MS), MS-based proteomics; HPLC; LC-MS; Protein post-translational modifications; Cell signaling; Cancer; Metabolism; Disease biomarker.
