Jose Almirall – Improved detection and quantitation of narcotic or euphoric drug or other toxins in support of criminal and related legal investigations. Recent projects include the fast analysis of gamma-hydroxybutryric acid (GHB) by in-situ derivitization SPME/GC/MS, the analysis of controlled substances by CZE and the rapid identification and quantitation of psychoactive agents in mushrooms.
David Becker – Investigation of newly discovered azulenyl nitrones which are highly efficient free radical scavengers providing a new approach to neural disease processes which involve free radical initiated events, these include Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease. Synthesis of bioactive natural product analogs. Identification of antioxidants produced in adaptation responses of biological systems exposed to solar radiation and hyperoxic atmospheres.
David Chatfield – Molecular dynamics simulation of biological macromolecules, particularly proteins. Recent and continued application to HIV-1 protease, an enzyme necessary for reproduction of the HIV-1 virus, in order to elucidate the mechanism of catalysis. Development of simulation methods incorporating hybrid quantum mechanical and molecular mechanical potentials and their application to the study of enzyme mechanism, especially to HIV-1 protease and to other aspartic proteases.
Kenneth G. Furton - Stabilization and characterization of biochemical markers and development of ELISA assays. Development and application of new analytical methods, including SPME/GC/MS to quantify free fraction drug concentration (non protein bound) of antipsychotic drugs including valprioc acid in free albumin plasma (after microultrafiltration).Study of biological detection systems including canines as models for electronic vapor detection devices. Times of death markers using different proteins.
Konstantinos Kavallieratos - Design of biomimetic metal-ligand environments for a) selective ion sequestration, sensing, and separation, and for b) understanding, modeling and altering chemical reactivity in systems of biomedical significance. Investigating the coordination chemistry of toxic metals (Pb, Cd, Hg) and designing efficient hosts via self-assembly, can lead to selective chelation therapy drugs, and sensitive ion-sensing devices. Novel materials for selective separation and sensing of biologically important anions can be designed by using hydrogen bond donor ligands. Besides, such ligands attached to metal centers can give unique reactivity and selectivity patterns toward targeted substrates, in a biomimetic fashion.
John Landrum – Study of the absorption, transport, and metabolism of carotenoids in humans.Studies of human macular pigment, identification of the component isomers, their distribution and age related abundance, and their possible role. Have recently discovered that the non-dietary meso-isomer of zeaxanthin is a major component (-50%) and are investigating its distribution in the retina. Investigation of the stereoisomers of zeaxanthin found in other human tissues with the object of identifying the metabolic mechanism which produces the newly found isomer. Study of the biological function of the metallo- enzymes and developing small molecule analogs capable of mimicking the biocatalytic behavior of these enzymes.
Fenfei Leng- Effects of transcription on DNA topology and DNA replication. DNA-protein interactions. DNA topology strongly affects DNA structure, thus dramatically changes the efficiency of gene transcription, DNA replication and recombination. Transcription is likely to be a major factor to affect intracellular DNA topology, especially local DNA supercoiling. Current research focuses on the mechanistic studies of transcription’s effects on DNA topology, and its potential biological functions. A second project is to study interactions of small chromosome proteins such as E. Coli HU protein and eukaryotic high mobility group (HMG) proteins with DNA. Techniques from both physical biochemistry and molecular biology will be used in these studies.
Kathleen Rein – Study of bio-active marine natural products, or the secondary metabolites of organisms that live in the sea, including their synthesis, biosynthesis and elucidation of their pharmacological mechanism of action. The characterization of membrane receptors which bind marine natural products resulting in a pharmacological response. Studies involve the systematic chemical modification of the ligands, evaluation of the receptor affinity or biological activity of the derivatives and correlating ligand/receptor studies with extensive molecular mechanics calculations to develop a receptor map
Stephen A. Winkle – Studies of the structures and functions of DNA's, focusing on unusual structures, using spectroscopic studies and enzymatic and chemical probes. Recent results have shown that distinctive junctions are created by joining different structural or sequential motifs and these junctions alter enzyme binding/reactivity in their vicinity. In a different area of interest, we have established that chemical carcinogens attack preferentially a small number of sites on DNA (which are also structurally distinctive).
Stanislaw Wnuk - Chemistry of nucleosides and nucleotides with applications in biochemistry and in anticancer and antiviral medicine. Research involving stereochemically defined transformations of nucleic acid components, invention of mechanism-based inhibitors of enzymes vital to cancer cell and/or virus proliferation, and collaborative biochemical evaluation. Primary research is centered on intuitive a priori design and synthesis of nucleoside analogues constructed with features that are chemically activated in the initial steps of an enzyme mechanism where spontaneous subsequent reactions cause enzyme inactivation.
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