Biological Chemistry Faculty
Program Chair
Faculty
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: Lipidomics; ocular (bio)chemistry; molecular enzymology; lipoxygenases, lipid peroxidation, and arachidonic acid cascade

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

Professor
Research Interests: Structure and function of macromolecular machines; mechanism of chaperone-mediated protein folding

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

Associate Professor
Research Interests: Transcription control by RNA Polymerase II; assembly and regulation of viral and human transcription complexes; mechanisms of transcription activation in HIV

Professor
Research Interests: Biochemical mechanisms and regulation of intracellular protein degradation; structure and function of intracellular proteases

Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Epigenome engineering; Nucleosome production; Drug discovery; Tumor immunology

Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Protein misfolding diseases, stress-responsive signaling, chemical biology, high-throughput screening, drug discovery, age-related macular degeneration, retinal dystrophies

Associate 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

Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Transcription regulation and epigenetics; enome integrity; cancer biology; chemical biology and protein semi-synthesis; protein post-translational modifications

Assistant Professor
Research Interests: The role of hypoxia inducible factors in tumor growth and metastasis

Assistant 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

Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Biochemical and structural study of receptor-mediated endocytosis and the membrane skeleton of the plasma membrane

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

Associate Professor
Research Interests: Protein-lipid interactions at membrane interfaces

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

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

Professor
Research Interests: Membrane protein trafficking and function; autophagy and its developmental roles; organelle biogenesis and communication

Associate Professor
Research Interests: Double-stranded DNA tumor viruses (human papillomavirus, human polyomaviruses); circular RNA biogenesis and function; facilitative glucose transporters

Associate Professor
Research Interests: Cancer biology and development of new therapeutic drugs

Associate 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.
Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Mass spectrometry, Stable isotope tracers, Metabolic flux

Associate Professor
Research Interests: Mechanisms of O2, CO, and NO sensing and in novel signal-transduction heme proteins

Professor
Research Interests: Metabolic Syndrome

Professor
Research Interests: Biochemistry, Biophysics, Structural biology, cross-beta polymers, phase transition/separation, membrane-less organelle, neurodegenerative diseases

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

Assistant Professor
Research Interests: Proteomics, mass spectrometry

Associate Professor
Research Interests: Evolution of biosynthetic diversity; role of polyamines in cellular processes

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
