Sponsored Research

How to acknowledge COBRE support:

"Research reported in this [publication, release] was supported by Institutional Development Awards (IDeA) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under grant numbers P20GM103640 and/or P30GM145423."

Sponsored Research

The Oklahoma COBRE in Structural Biology Phase 3 program provides support for research activities that will increase the number of researchers that utilize the COBRE-supported scientific core facilities. The projects that the OCSB will support typically combine structural biology approaches with other functional characterization of important biomolecules that are relevant to improving human health and will require equipment and services of the Biomolecular Structure Core and/or the Protein Production and Characterization Core.

Current Phase 3 Project Leaders

Kara De León

Project Investigator

School of Biological Sciences, OU-Norman

Project Title: Structural Characterization of Lap-like Proteins Required for Biofilm Formation and Gut Colonization by Desulfovibrio vulgaris Hildenborough

Email: deleonkb@ou.edu
Website

CoPI: Christina Bourne

John Peters

Project Investigator

Dept. of Chemistry & Biochemistry, OU-Norman

Project Title: Elucidating the Determinants of Catalytic Bias in NADH-Dependent Dehydrogenases

Email: jw.peters@ou.edu
Website

CoPI: Florence Mus

Shanteri Singh

Project Investigator

Dept. of Chemistry & Biochemistry, OU-Norman

Project Title: An Efficient Platform for SAM-Analog Generation and Utilization

Email: shanteri.singh@ou.edu
Website

Former COBRE Investigators

Anthony Burgett

Project Investigator

Dept. of Pharmaceutical Sciences, OUHSC

Project Title: Structure/Function of Oxysterol-Binding Protein to Guide Therapeutic Development

Email: anthony-burgett@ouhsc.edu
Website

CoPI: Christina Bourne

Erika Lutter

Project Investigator

Dept. of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, OSU

Project Title: Determining the Structure-Function Relationship of Immune-Modulatory C. trachomatis Inc Protein CT226

Email: erika.lutter@okstate.edu
Website

CoPI: Christina Bourne

Yihan Shao

Project Investigator

Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry, OU-Norman

Project Title: A Combined Computational and Experimental Study of CRISPR Cas9/12a Enzyme Reaction Mechanism

Email: yihan.shao@ou.edu
Website

CoPI: Rakhi Rajan

Vijay Somalinga

Project Investigator

Dept. of Biological Sciences, SWOSU

Project Title: Structural and Functional Characterization of Proteins Essential for Metabolism and Virulence in Streptococcus sanguinis

Email: vijay.somalinga@swosu.edu
Website

CoPI: Rakhi Rajan

Jialing Lin

Project Investigator

Dept. of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, OUHSC

Project Title: Bax Pore Formation in Apoptosis: Structures of Intermediates and Mechanism of Assembly

Email: jialing-lin@ouhsc.edu
Website

Jody Summers

Project Investigator

Dept. of Cell Biology, OUHSC

Project Title: Development of Methyl Dichlorocarbonyl Compounds for Specific RALDH2 Inhibition

Email: jody-summers@ouhsc.edu
Website

Ashlee Rowe

Junior Investigator

Dept. of Biology, OU-Norman

Project Title: Scorpion Peptides That Inhibit a Transmembrane Sodium Ion Channel (Nav1.8) Regulator of Pain-Sensing Neurons: Structural Characterization of the Peptide-Nav1.8 Complex

Email: ahrowe@ou.edu
Website

Shanteri Singh

Junior Investigator

Dept. of Chemistry & Biochemistry, OU-Norman

Funding: NIH 1R01GM138800

Project Title: Development of Chemoenzymatic Platform for Facile Synthesis of Alkyl-Pyrophosphate Analogs

Email: shanteri.singh@ou.edu
Website

Xin Zhang

Pilot Project Leader

Dept. of Physiology, OUHSC

Project Title: Preparation of Tetraspanin Proteins for Structure and Function Studies

Email: xin-zhang-1@ouhsc.edu
Website

Adam Duerfeldt

Junior Investigator

Department of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Minnesota

Project Title: Structure, Function and Therapeutic Potential of Clostridium difficile Caseinolytic Protease P

Email: aduerfel@umn.edu
Website

Ralf Janknecht

Pilot Project Leader

Dept. of Cell Biology, OUHSC

Project Title: Enabling JMJD4 Inhibitor Development Through Structural Studies

Email: ralf-janknecht@ouhsc.edu
Website

Ferenc Deak

Pilot Project Leader

Dept. of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, OUHSC

Project Title: Munc18 Mutations in Synaptic Transmission, Epileptic Seizures and Dementia

Email: fdeak@augusta.edu
Website

Wei-Qun Ding

Pilot Project Investigator

Dept. of Pathology, OUHSC

Project Titles: (1) Effects of Arginine Methylation on SRSF1-miRNA Binding and (2) The Structural Basis of SRSF1 Recognition of miRNA Sequence Motifs

Email: weiqun-ding@ouhsc.edu
Website

CoPI: Blaine Mooers

Robert Matts

Pilot Project Leader

Dept. of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Oklahoma State University

Project Title: Co-crystallization of TRAP1 with Inhibitors for Enhancement of Structure-based Drug Design

Email: robert.matts@okstate.edu
Website

Rakhi Rajan

Junior Investigator

Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, OU-Norman

Project Title: Mechanistic Studies of CRISPR-Mediated Bacterial Immunity

Email: r-rajan@ou.edu
Website

Yihan Shao

Pilot Project Leader

Dept. of Chemistry & Biochemistry, OU-Norman

Project Title: Multiscale Free Energy Simulation of Enzymatic Reactions

Email: yihan.shao@ou.edu
Website

Anne Kasus-Jacobi

Junior Project Leader

Dept. of Pharmaceutical Sciences, OUHSC

Project Title: Structural Approach to Define New Functional Activities of Neutrophil Protein CAP37 in Neurodegenerative Diseases

Email: anne-kasus-jacobi@ouhsc.edu
Website

Christina Bourne

Junior Project Leader

Dept. of Chemistry & Biochemistry, OU-Norman

Project Title: Probing the Potential of the Gyrase Inhibitor ParE for Antibacterial Applications

Email: cbourne@ou.edu
Website

Indrajeet Sharma

Pilot Project Leader

Dept. of Chemistry & Biochemistry, OU-Norman

Project Title: Structure-Based Design of Potent and Selective Inhibitors to Pro-Apoptotic Bax/Bak

Email: isharma@ou.edu
Website

Elizabeth Karr

Junior Investigator

Dept. of Microbiology & Plant Biology, OU-Norman

Project Title: Structure-Function Studies of MsvR, a Methanogen-Specific Transcriptional Regulator

Email: lizkarr@ou.edu
Website

Marie Hanigan

Project Investigator

Dept. of Cell Biology, OUHSC

Project Title: Structural Characterization of Gamma-Glutamyl Transferase Enzymes

Email: marie-hanigan@ouhsc.edu
Website

Paul Sims

Junior Investigator

Dept. of Chemistry & Biochemistry, OU-Norman

Funding: NSF-REU 1359457

Project Title: Structural and Mechanistic Studies of Essential Microbial Kinases

Email: psims@ou.edu
Website

Shanjana Awasthi

Pilot Project Investigator

Dept. of Pharmaceutical Sciences, OUHSC

Funding: NIH P20GM103648

Project Title: Structure-Function Relation of a TLR4-Interacting Surfactant Protein A-Derived Peptide

Email: shanjana-awasthi@ouhsc.edu
Website

John West

Pilot Project Investigator

Nebraska Center for Virology, U. of Nebraska-Lincoln

Project Title: Allele-Specific mRNA Structures in the Regulation of MMTV Gag Translation

Email: jwest2@unl.edu
Website

Augen Pioszak

Junior Investigator

Dept. of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, OUHSC

Funding: NIH 1R01GM104251

Project Title: RAMP-altered Class B GPCR Hormone Recognition

Email: augen-pioszak@ouhsc.edu
Website

Blaine Mooers

Junior Investigator

Dept. of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, OUHSC

Funding: NIH 1R01 AI088011

Project Title: The Role of Non-Canonical Base Pairs in RNA Editing

Email: blaine-mooers@ouhsc.edu
Website

Jana Shen

Junior Investigator

Dept. of Pharmaceutical Sciences, U. Maryland

Funding: NIH 1R01GM098818

Project Title: Electrostatic Modulation of Protein Stability and Folding

Email: jshen@rx.umaryland.edu
Website