BMB Faculty

Faculty

Timothy Durrett
Professor and Director of Graduate Studies
Biochemistry of triacylglycerol biosynthesis; structure and function of membrane bound acyltransferases; genetically modifying the physical properties of seed oils for industrial and biofuel applications. Dr. Durrett's research video.

Brandon Garcia
Associate Professor
Lyme disease pathogenesis; mechanisms of bacterial immune evasion; protein structure-function; drug discovery.

Brian Geisbrecht
University Distinguished Professor
Innate immunity; molecular basis of infectious diseases and host-pathogen interactions; structural biology and molecular recognition. Dr. Brian Geisbrecht's research video.

Erika Geisbrecht
Professor
Formation and maintenance of muscle and heart tissue; biochemistry and molecular genetics of Drosophila; cell signaling in development.
Dr. Erika Geisbrecht's research video. Dr. Erika Geisbrecht's lab.

Shijiao Huang
Assistant Professor
My scientific goal is to understand the mechanisms of aging and to develop clinically relevant drugs to delay aging and enhance human health and longevity.

Michael Kanost
University Distinguished Professor
Insect hemolymph proteins: biochemistry and molecular biology; structure and function of serine proteinases, proteinase inhibitors, and antimicrobial response proteins from insect hemolymph. Dr. Kanost's research video. Dr. Kanost's lab.

Phillip E. Klebba
University Distinguished Professor
Iron acquisition by active transport through the cell envelopes of bacteria; immunological approaches to bacterial pathogenesis; biophysical analyses of bacterial membrane transport in living cells. Dr. Klebba's research video. Dr. Klebba's lab.

Om Prakash
Professor, Director of NMR Facility, and Graduate Admissions Chair
Structural characterization and molecular recognition using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and Computer Aided Molecular Design (CAMD). NMR Lab

Anna Zolkiewska
Professor
Molecular mechanisms of human disease; triple negative breast cancer; tumor immune microenvironment; ADAM metalloproteases

Michal Zolkiewski
Professor and Department Head
Protein structure and function; protein folding and aggregation; molecular chaperones and cellular stress. Dr. Zolkiewski's research video.

 

Research Faculty

Neal Dittmer
Research Assistant Professor
Insect biochemistry and molecular biology; insect cuticle synthesis and sclerotization; insect multicopper oxidases.

Sourav Roy
Research Assistant Professor
Computational biophysics; protein folding; Lyme disease biology; structural biology and drug discovery; neuro-degenerative diseases.

 

Teaching Faculty

Mark Boatwright
Instructor
Courses: BIOCH 111, BIOCH 265, BIOCH 522

 

David Meekins
Instructor
Protein structure and function studies; high-consequence zoonotic viruses; biochemistry science communication.
Courses: BIOCH 110, BIOCH 521

 

Adjunct and Ancillary Faculty

Saurov Misra
Adjunct Associate Professor
Intracellular protein quality control; ubiquitination mechanisms; structural biology and biophysical methods.

Salete Newton
Adjunct Professor
Vaccine biotechnology; molecular biology of bacterial membrane proteins; biochemistry of iron uptake by bacteria.

Jeremy Schmit
Professor, Department of Physics
Theoretical soft sondensed matter and biological physics: biomolecule phase separation; amyloid fibril formation; drug formulations; self-assembly. Dr. Schmit's lab.

Ruth Welti
University Distinguished Professor, Division of Biology
Structure and function of cell membranes; mass-spectrometry-based lipid analysis.
Dr. Welti's lab.

 

Emeritus Faculty

Lawrence Davis
Emeritus Professor
Nitrogen fixation mutants, structure-function relationships, associating macromolecules; environmental metabolic processes, bioremediation; science education.

Karl Kramer
Emeritus Adjunct Professor
Insect biochemistry, cuticle sclerotization, molting, control, and metabolism.

 

Ramaswamy Krishnamoorthi
Emeritus Associate Professor
Structural Biology; NMR studies of protein structure, dynamics, and stability in relation to function; serine proteinases and their protein inhibitors; protein domains involved in signal transduction.

Subbaratnam Muthukrishnan
Emeritus University Distinguished Professor
Characterization and manipulation of expression of defense genes to enhance plant resistance to fungal and insect pests.

Thomas Roche
Emeritus University Distinguished Professor
Structure, function and regulation of mammalian pyruvate dehydrogenase complex.

 

Dolores Takemoto
Emeritus Professor
Biochemistry of proteins in the retina and lens of the eye, the mechanism of cell growth control and repair during diabetes, and identification of antioxidants in foods which are responsible for anticancer activity.

John Tomich
Emeritus Professor
Self-assembling amphipathic peptides.

 

 

In Memoriam

Gerald Reeck
Professor