Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics Graduate Group Faculty

Housed across multiple K-State departments, the BMB Graduate Group faculty serve as graduate advisors and committee members while leading diverse, high-impact research programs in both basic and applied sciences. Interactions among the diverse research programs create an exciting and dynamic biochemistry and molecular biophysics research environment.

Name

Department or Unit

Research description

Katsura Asano

Biology

Regulation of protein biosynthesis; yeast genetics and biochemistry; molecular and cell biology of insects and cancer

Ming-Shun Chen

USDA

Molecular interactions between plant and parasites; host plant resistance; effectors and effector-triggered signaling pathways; wheat breeding and gene editing

Timothy Durrett

BMB

Biochemistry of triacylglycerol biosynthesis; structure and function of membrane bound acyltransferases; genetically modifying the physical properties of seed oils for industrial and biofuel applications

Peying Fong

Anatomy & Physiology

Regulation of sodium and chloride transport by epithelial cells, with a focus on the functional interactions between the epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) and the Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator (CFTR)

Brandon Garcia

BMB

Lyme disease pathogenesis; mechanisms of bacterial immune evasion; protein structure-function; drug discovery

Brian Geisbrecht

BMB

Innate immunity; molecular basis of infectious diseases and host-pathogen interactions; structural biology and molecular recognition

Erika Geisbrecht

BMB

Mechanisms that underlie muscle structure and function

Revathi Govind

Biology

Pathogenic microbiology and bacterial genetics

Shijiao Huang

BMB

Understanding the mechanisms of aging and developing clinically relevant drugs to delay aging and enhance human health and longevity

Kristin Michel

Biology

Regulation of mosquito innate immunity; malaria parasite-mosquito interactions

Dana Nayduch

USDA

Vector-microbe interactions and the molecular function of insect vectors

Brenda Oppert

Entomology

Stored product insects; genomic resources for the development of insects as feed

Om Prakash

BMB

Structural characterization and molecular recognition using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and Computer Aided Molecular Design (CAMD)

Ryan Rafferty

Chemistry

Synthetic organic chemistry; drug discovery and selective delivery; medicinal chemistry; chemical biology

Jeremy Schmit

Physics

Biomolecule phase separation; amyloid fibril formation; systems biology; self-assembly

Kathrin Schrick

Biology

Plant molecular biology, developmental biology, plant sterols, START domains, sterols and cellulose; broadly focusing on deciphering the molecular mechanisms underlying growth and development of flowering plants

Bruce Shultz

Anatomy & Physiology

Understanding the physiological regulation of epithelial ion transport and barrier functions

Paul Smith

Chemistry

Computer simulation of the structure and dynamics of peptides, proteins and nucleic acids; cosolvent effects on peptides and proteins; modeling of opioid peptides and their receptors

Nicholas Wallace

Health & Human Sciences

Human papillomavirus; viral oncogenesis; DNA damage repair

Ruth Welti

Biology

Developing and implementing mass-spectrometry-based lipid profiling strategies to understand the roles of particular lipids, as well as genes and proteins involved in lipid metabolism and lipid signaling