We study protein structure and its relationships to protein function at the molecular and cellular levels. Common to all of our work is a focus on understanding how biomolecules recognize and engage one another. Biomolecular recognition is important because virtually all of biological chemistry occurs when two or more molecules come together to effect a reaction or to transmit a signal. For example, enzymes must recognize their natural substrates from the myriad of other molecules in living cells, while transcriptional repressors must recognize a specific DNA sequence to control gene expression.
Our main experimental tool is X-ray crystallography, which provides high resolution three-dimensional structures of proteins. We supplement our crytallographic work with a variety of other approaches, including isothermal titration calorimetry, site-directed mutagenesis, kinetics measurements, analytical ultracentrifugation and computational methods. We are also starting to use small angle X-ray scattering to probe protein structure in solution.
Currently Active Research Projects