Kevin N. Dalby
Biological
Chemistry, Enzymes and Disease
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Kevin N. Dalby PhD University of Texas at Austin phone 512-4719267 |
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Our
research goals are to understand structure/function relationships,
and the chemical and regulatory mechanisms of key enzymes implicated
in human disease. One
focus at present is the MAP kinase family.
This family of enzymes is associated with various forms of
cancer, neurological and inflammatory diseases.
On the practical side our long-term goals are to provide tools
with which to examine the function of these enzymes in vivo and to design drugs that are
active against them. From
the academic perspective we want to understand how enzymes perform
the specific functions that they do.
Full comprehension will bring the goal of designer enzymes
even closer and perhaps provide us with novel means by which to design
therapeutics. We apply a multi-disciplinary approach that encompasses both chemistry and biology. Techniques used include organic synthesis and chemical kinetics, protein and peptide chemistry, pre-steady state enzyme kinetics, protein expression and purification, DNA sequencing, spectroscopy, and structure activity relationships. On the molecular biology side we use site-directed mutagenesis, phage display and RNA aptamer approaches. In the future we plan to study signaling cascades in tissue culture models. Co-workers
will gain experience in many of these techniques through projects,
which can be part of a collaborative venture with another research
laboratory. |