Biological Chemistry Faculty
Program Director
Associate 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: Transcriptional regulation; Transcription-induced DNA damage; Nascent RNA biology; HIV-1 latency and reactivation; HIV-1 reservoir and cure
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
Professor
Research Interests: Mechanisms of RNA-mediated gene regulation; Structural and biochemical studies of RNA function
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
Professor
Research Interests: Cancer biology and development of new therapeutic drugs
Professor
Research Interests: Molecular mechanism of ferroptosis, a cell death pathway triggered by lipid peroxidation, in development of diseases such as alcoholic liver disease.
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
Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Lipidomics, Mass Spectrometry, Analytical Chemistry
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
Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Lipid metabolism; SREBP regulation; hormonal and nutritional control of lipid synthesis
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