The Department of Chemistry at the University of Illinois
Chemical Biology Faculty
| PROFESSOR | INTERESTS |
|---|---|
| Ryan C. Bailey | Multiparameter analysis of disease-altered tissues; analytical immunochemistry; biological surface chemistry, resonant optical microcavities; nanoscale plasmonics |
| Martin D. Burke | Synthesis and study of small molecules with protein-like functions |
| Robert B. Gennis | Protein-lipid interactions; membrane-bound enzymes, bioenergetics; cytochromes |
| John A. Gerlt | Predicting and discovering new enzymatic functions, metabolites, and metabolic pathways; mechanistic enzymology; unnatural mutagenesis |
| Martin Gruebele | Time-resolved spectroscopy applied to biological systems; protein folding dynamics |
| Sharon Hammes-Schiffer | Electron, proton, and proton-coupled electron transfer reactions in solution, proteins, and electrochemistry; hybrid quantum-classical molecular dynamics, non-Born-Oppenheimer electronic structure methods, nonadiabatic dynamics of photoinduced processes, molecular electrocatalysts, enzyme and ribozyme mechanisms |
| Paul J. Hergenrother | Design, synthesis, and evaluation of organic molecules with unique biological properties, including enzyme inhibitors and activators; novel anticancer and antibacterial compounds |
| Deborah E. Leckband | Structure/function relationships of cell adhesion proteins and their role in disease; single molecule biophysics; mechanistic studies of protein recognition and bio-adhesion; allosteric regulation of protein functions; Molecular tension sensors in biology. |
| Yi Lu | Design of metalloenzymes as biocatalysts for alternative energies and asymmetric catalysis; selection of DNA/RNAzymes for environmental monitoring, medical diagnostics, and targeted drug delivery; DNA directed assembly of nanomaterials for photonics and sensing |
| Zaida (Zan) Luthey-Schulten | Computational studies of biomolecular energy landscapes to explore the evolution of structure, folding and function |
| *Susan A. Martinis | RNA-protein structure/function |
| Douglas A. Mitchell | Molecular underpinnings of bacterial virulence; natural product biosynthesis |
| *Satish Nair | Structural biology |
| Chad M. Rienstra | Study of membrane protein structure, dynamics, and function by solid-state NMR; development of new experimental methodology and instrumentation |
| Scott K. Silverman | DNA as a catalyst |
| Stephen G. Sligar | Physical and chemical mechanisms of oxygenase catalysis; self-assembled nanoscale complexes; development of therapeutics for human disease targets |
| Jonathan V. Sweedler | Analytical neurochemistry: more specifically, studies on cell to cell signaling pathways involved in learning, memory, and behavior, as well as conserved aspects of neurotransmission across the metazoan |
| Wilfred A. van der Donk | Mechanistic enzymology of metalloenzymes; antibiotic biosynthesis; genome mining for new natural products; bioremediation synthesis of peptide conjugates |
| *Huimin Zhao | Protein engineering; metabolic engineering; bioinformatics; high throughput technologies such as directed evolution and protein microarrays |
* denotes departmental affiliate
Other faculty with interests in Chemical Biology include:
| Alison Fout | Thomas B. Rauchfuss |
| Steve Granick | Joaquín Rodríguez-López |
| *Taekjip Ha | Kenneth S. Suslick |
| Richard H. Perry | Steven C. Zimmerman |
