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Media Relations
Kansas State University
9 Anderson Hall
Manhattan, KS 66506
785-532-6415
media@k-state.edu
Information provided by K-State Media Relations, K-State's news service, may be reproduced without permission. The marks and names of Kansas State University are protected trademarks and may not be used in any commercial or private endeavor without the approval of the university.

JOHN TOMICH
Professor of biochemistry

 

John Tomich photo John Tomich wears many hats at Kansas State University. As a biochemistry faculty member he conducts NIH funded research on synthetic peptides with interesting activities. His primary interest is in the area of channel forming peptides. His lab has developed more than 200 sequences that showed varied ion transport activity in synthetic membranes as well as cultured epithelial cells and animals. One set of peptide shows promise in allowing the selective transport of chloride ions across cells. These peptides show promise in restoring the chloride imbalance seen in patients that suffer cystic fibrosis. Another set of peptides temporarily alters the barrier function of epithelial cells. These sequences are currently being investigated as possible transport activators in epithelium. Pretreatment of cells with the peptide facilitates the transport (uptake) of drugs or helpful molecules that are normally excluded.

As director of the Biotechnology Core Lab he oversees synthetic and analytic services offered to researchers around the world. The lab specializes in the chemical synthesis of peptides, mass spectrometry, protein sequencing, plasmon resonance and solution NMR structure analysis of membrane spanning peptides.

Tomich is also one of the founders of a small biotech company, Nacelle Therapeutics, Inc. He is currently chief technical officer. This company was founded to help commercialize some of the peptides developed at Kansas State University.

Tomich received his bachelor's degree in biology with a minor in chemistry from the University of Connecticut in 1974 and his master's degree in biochemistry from Purdue University in 1974. He went on to receive his doctorate in chemistry from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, in 1980.

He is member of Sigma Xi, the Biophysical Society, the Association for Biomolecular Resource Facilities, the American Peptide Society and the Federation for American Scientists for Experimental Biology.

Tomich can be reached at 785-532-5956 or by e-mail at jtomich@k-state.edu.