Biological Chemistry Faculty

Russell DeBose-Boyd, PhD
Chair

Michael Brown, MD
Research Interests: Regulation of gene expression; cell-surface receptor function; genetics and biochemistry of lipoprotein and cholesterol metabolism

Richard Bruick, PhD
Research Interests: Regulation of the mammalian hypoxic response pathway

Igor Butovich, PhD
Research Interests: Lipidomics; ocular (bio)chemistry; molecular enzymology; lipoxygenases, lipid peroxidation, and arachidonic acid cascade

Chuo Chen, PhD
Research Interests: Natural product synthesis, synthetic methodology development, small molecule library synthesis and chemical biology

David Chuang, PhD
Research Interests: Structure and function of macromolecular machines; mechanism of chaperone-mediated protein folding

Nicholas Conrad, PhD
Research Interests: Gene expression and RNA biogenesis in Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpes virus

David Corey, PhD
Research Interests: Engineering proteins and nucleic acids for novel function

Russell DeBose-Boyd, PhD
Research Interests: Regulation of HMG-CoA reductase and sterol metabolism

Jef De Brabander, PhD
Research Interests: Synthesis of natural products and other molecular architectures and interrogation of their mode-of-action, using molecular pharmacology and biochemistry

George DeMartino, PhD
Research Interests: Biochemical mechanisms and regulation of intracellular protein degradation; structure and function of intracellular proteases

J. R. Falck, PhD 
Research Interests: Total synthesis of natural products; synthetic methodology; organometalics; eicosanoids; medicinal chemistry

Kevin H. Gardner, PhD
Research Interests: Biophysical and biochemical studies of photosensors and other environmental sensors

Marie-Alda Gilles-Gonzalez, PhD
Research Interests: Mechanisms of O2, CO and NO sensing and in novel signal-transduction heme proteins

Elizabeth Goldsmith, PhD
Research Interests: Crystallographic studies of recognition and signal transduction in protein molecules

Joseph Goldstein, MD
Research Interests: Genetics and biochemistry of lipoprotein and cholesterol metabolism; cell-surface receptor function; regulation of gene expression

Bethany Janowski, PhD
Research Interests: Gene regulation by small RNAs

Jennifer Kohler, PhD
Research Interests: Understanding and exploiting the molecular foundations of glycoconjugate biosynthesis

Mark Lehrman, PhD
Research Interests: Informational carbohydrates in the endoplasmic reticulum: roles in protein folding, stress responses, and human disease

Wen-Hong Li, PhD
Research Interests: Intercellular communications through gap junctions; molecular engineering of fluorescent sensors for cellular imaging; wide field, confocal and multi-photon fluorescence microscopy; mechanisms and functions of cellular calcium signaling

Qinghua Liu, PhD
Research Interests: Cellular use of small RNAs to specifically silence gene expression; harnessing the power of RNAi to shut down expression of pathological genes to cure human disease

John MacMillan, PhD
Research Interests: Isolation and structural determination of biologically active natural products from marine bacteria; new methodology for stereochemical assignment; medicinal chemistry

Steven McKnight, PhD
Research Interests: Molecular genetics and biochemical studies of mammalian gene regulation

Carole Mendelson, PhD
Research Interests: Molecular mechanisms in tissue-specific, developmental and hormonal regulation of eukaryotic gene expression

Peter Michaely, PhD
Research Interests: Biochemical and structural study of receptor-mediated endocytosis and the membrane skeleton of the plasma membrane

Marc Mumby, PhD
Research Interests: Signaling pathways controlling cell growth and transformation

Kim Orth, PhD
Research Interests: Signal transduction in the microbial pathogen Yersinia pestis

Steven Patrie, PhD
Research Interests: Proteomics; mass spectrometry and protein array methods development; mechanisms in autoimmune/neurodegenerative disorders; cancer epigenetics

Margaret Phillips, PhD
Research Interests: Polyamine and pyrimidine metabolism in trypanosome and malaria parasites

Joseph Ready, PhD
Research Interests: Discovery and application of new chemical reactions; total synthesis of complex molecules

Michael Rosen, PhD
Research Interests: Analysis of structural, biochemical, and cell biological mechanisms that regulate the actin cytoskeleton

Vanessa Sperandio, PhD
Research Interests: Quorum sensing in enteropathogenic Escherichia coli

Uttam Tambar, PhD
Research Interests: Synthesis of complex biologically active natural products, and development of new tandem methodologies

Diana Tomchick, PhD
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

Benjamin Tu, PhD
Research Interests: Metabolic cycles; mechanisms by which fundamental processes (e.g., cell growth and division, transcription, mitochondria homeostasis) are coupled to cellular metabolic state; yeast

Gomika Udugamasooriya, PhD
Research Interests: Development of high affinity and specific peptidomimetics (e.g., peptoids), targeting specific cell surface receptors at a genome-wide approach for early detection and treatment of cancer

Kosaku Uyeda, PhD
Research Interests: Elucidation of biochemical mechanisms for regulation of carbohydrate metabolism in mammalian cells

Xiaodong Wang, PhD
Research Interests: Biochemistry of mammalian apoptosis, chemical synthesis of inhibitors of apoptosis

Noelle Williams, PhD
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

Wade Winkler, PhD
Research Interests: RNA biology; biochemistry of gene regulation; RNA structure and function; posttranscriptional genetic control; microbial metabolism

Jin Ye, PhD
Research Interests: Geranylgeranylation and HCV replication; regulation of geranylgeranyl lipid homeostasis; regulated intramembrane proteolysis