Biological Chemistry Faculty
Program Director
Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Transcription regulation and epigenetics; genome integrity; cancer biology; chemical biology and protein semi-synthesis; protein post-translational modifications
Faculty
Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Transcription and regulation in Clostridioides difficile and other bacterial species; structure and function of RNA polymerase; antibiotics discovery of RNA polymease inhibitors
Professor
Research Interests: Natural product synthesis, synthetic methodology development, small molecule library synthesis and chemical biology
Professor
Research Interests: Gene expression and RNA biogenesis in Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpes virus
Professor
Research Interests: Engineering proteins and nucleic acids for novel function
Professor
Research Interests: Regulation of HMG-CoA reductase and sterol metabolism
Professor
Research Interests: Transcription control by RNA Polymerase II; assembly and regulation of viral and human transcription complexes; mechanisms of transcription activation in HIV
Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Epigenome engineering; Nucleosome production; Drug discovery; Tumor immunology
Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Metabolism, nutrient signaling, cancer, proteomics, kinases
Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Membrane Protein, Biochemistry, Structural Biology, Protein Homeostasis, Protein Degradation, Lipid Metabolism
Professor
Research Interests: Understanding and exploiting the molecular foundations of glycoconjugate biosynthesis
Associate Professor
Research Interests: Probe engineering and targeted drug delivery to islet cells for treating diabetes; Islet biology with an emphasis on functional analysis on zinc signaling and zinc transporters in islet endocrine cells
Associate Professor
Research Interests: The role of hypoxia inducible factors in tumor growth and metastasis
Associate Professor
Research Interests: Genetically engineered mouse models of cancer, chemical and genetic screens for new vulnerabilities in small cell lung cancer and Ewing sarcoma
Professor
Research Interests: Molecular genetics and biochemical studies of mammalian gene regulation
Associate Professor
Research Interests: Biochemical and structural study of receptor-mediated endocytosis and the membrane skeleton of the plasma membrane
Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Disease mechanism, Glycogen metabolism, Ubiquitin biology, Linear Ubiquitin Chain Assembly Complex, Glycophagy
Associate Professor
Research Interests: Mechanisms of RNA-mediated gene regulation; Structural and biochemical studies of RNA function
Associate Professor
Research Interests: Using chemistry to identify new cancer drug targets
Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Regulatory mechanisms impacting structure, function and location of glycogen; Molecular consequences of glycogen storage diseases; Development of treatment strategies on molecular basis of the disease pathogenesis; Engineering proteins for improved Gene Therapy
Professor
Research Interests: Signal transduction in the microbial pathogen Yersinia pestis
Professor
Research Interests: Polyamine and pyrimidine metabolism in trypanosomes and in malaria parasites
Professor
Research Interests: Protein-lipid interactions at membrane interfaces
Juan Manuel Povedano Selfa, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Drug discovery, cancer, small cell lung cancer, chemical biology, small molecules, cancer targets, forward genetics, CRISPR, biochemistry, chemoproteomics, medicinal chemistry.
Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Lysosome biology, mTORC1 signaling, lipid metabolism and sensing, organelle communications
Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Organelle Biogenesis, Protein Translocation and Trafficking, Membrane Repair, Quality Control, Metabolism, Drug Discovery
Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Bioactive natural product synthesis; asymmetric catalysis; cancer biology
Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Mitochondrial Biochemistry; Redox Biology; AMPylation; Selenoproteins
Professor
Research Interests: Synthesis of complex biologically active natural products; development of new tandem methodologies
Professor
Research Interests: Mechanisms by which cellular processes are coupled to metabolic state, Metabolic cycles, Oxidative stress, nutritional stress, Regulation of cell growth versus survival
Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Mechanisms by which starvation leads to persistence in bacteria; Identifying new regulatory metabolite-RNA and metabolite-protein interactions; Peptide synthesis and protein semi-synthesis
Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Membrane protein trafficking and function; autophagy and its developmental roles; organelle biogenesis and communication
Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Single-molecule, fluorescence microscopy, RNA biochemistry, translational control of gene expression, mitochondrial translation
Associate Professor
Research Interests: Cancer biology and development of new therapeutic drugs
Professor
Research Interests: Geranylgeranylation and HCV replication; regulation of geranylgeranyl lipid homeostasis; regulated intramembrane proteolysis
Associate Members
These faculty members do not accept graduate students. They participate in teaching, co-mentoring, exam and dissertation committees, and all other program responsibilities.
Professor
Research Interests: Genetics of human disease, Mechanism of vesicular transport in animal cells, Regulation of cholesterol metabolism and membrane composition
Associate Professor
Research Interests: Mass spectrometry, Stable isotope tracers, Metabolic flux
Marie-Alda Gilles-Gonzalez, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Research Interests: Mechanisms of O2, CO, and NO sensing and in novel signal-transduction heme proteins
Professor
Research Interests: Biochemistry, Biophysics, Structural biology, cross-beta polymers, phase transition/separation, membrane-less organelle, neurodegenerative diseases
Associate Professor
Research Interests: Evolution of biosynthetic diversity; role of polyamines in cellular processes
Professor
Research Interests: Bioinformatics, cheminformatics, data analysis and management, High Throughput Screening, pre-clinical drug discovery
Professor
Research Interests: Structural characterization of signal-transduction protein complexes, proteins involved in reproductive biology, and novel proteins from pathogenic bacteria; improved methods of crystallographic data collection, processing, and phasing; automated crystallization techniques
Professor
Research Interests: Metabolic Syndrome and obesity, mechanisms of dyslipidemia
Professor
Research Interests: Development of novel chemical leads from high throughput screens, new natural products, or rational target-based chemical design as viable therapeutics for preclinical models; areas explored include pharmacokinetics, formulation, metabolism, toxicology, and efficacy for a variety of disease models, including cancer, bacterial infections, and neurological disorders