DEVELOPING NOVEL THERAPEUTICS TO TREAT DISEASE
Antibacterial Drug Discovery
Tuberculosis
We are developing new drug discovery and delivery tools to reinvigorate Tuberculosis drug therapies.
MRSA
Revisiting the targets of D-cycloserine to develop new antibiotics to treat MRSA and other bacterial infections.
Chlamydia
As the bacteria that cause Chlamydia are obligate intracellular pathogens, understanding how bacterial proteins interact with host proteins is an intriguing avenue for discovering new antibacterial drugs.
TARGETING EPIGENETIC AND DNA REPAIR MECHANISMS AS CANCER THERAPIES
Preventing protein complex formation important for disease progression
Anti-Cancer Drug Discovery
The bromodomains of human BRD proteins read chromatin status and impact gene transcription. Dysregulation of this epigenetic process can cause cellular transformation to a cancerous state. In an NIH-funded collaboration with Dr. Mahato at UNMC, we are structurally characterizing new compounds developed in his lab to selectively bind BRD4-BD2 and treat the most common childhood brain cancers, Medulloblastoma.
In another NIH-funded cancer project, we are working with the Karfp and Natarajan labs to develop and test novel compounds that bind the RAD9-RAD1-HUS1 DNA repair complex and inhibit recruitment of RHNO1 to DNA lesions in ovarian cancer tumors.
CAN WE PREVENT OR REVERSE NEURODEGENERATION?
Activating dead enzymes
Neuroscience Drug Discovery
The destruction of neural tissue in neurodegenerative diseases has numerous causes. Inflammation during infection, oxidative damage, strokes, genetic disorders, and numerous other disease states. In collaboration with the Dr. Trippier’s lab at UNMC, we are looking to characterize target engagement of compounds his lab has developed for treating neurodegenerative disorders regardless of the cause.
