Research Collaborations
For thesis research, many of our students are interested in projects that span more than one lab or advisor. To meet this need, the Program has established mechanisms for joint mentorship and collaboration within the Program. Joint mentorship allows students access to thesis projects that span specialties (e.g., organic synthesis and structural biology), reflecting the cross-disciplinary nature of research in chemical biology. In some cases, these projects represent existing collaborations between Program Faculty, in others, students can be the catalyst to forge new research collaborations. Below is representative list of some of the collaborations between faculty members within the Chemical Biology Doctoral Program at Michigan. This list is updated regularly; please check back often.
Roger Sunahara and Nils Walter
"At the Single Molecule Frontier: Integration in Biology and Nanotechnology"
Jim Penner-Hahn and Vince Pecoraro
"Mechanism of ozygenic photosynthesis"
Dave Ballou and Ruma Banerjee
"Adenosyltransferase tailors and delivers coenzymes B12"
Jim Penner-Hahn and Vince Pecoraro
"De Nova designed metalloproteins"
Hashim Al-Hashimi, Ioan Andricioaei and Nils Walter
"RNA structural dynamics and function by multiscale integration of NMR, FRET, MD"
Hashim Al-Hashimi and Neil Marsh
"Novel physical properties of "teflon" proteins: structure, stability and dynamics"
Hashim Al-Hashimi and Vincent Pecoraro
"Residual dipolar couplings of designed metallopeptides"
David Ballou and Neil Marsh
"How do enzymes generate and control free radicals"
Daniel Bochar and David Engelke
"Alternative substrates for the Mod5p isopentenyl transferase from nuclei"
David Engelke and Carol Fierke
"Kinetic analysis of nuclear RNase P"
Carol Fierke and Raoul Kopelman
"Engineered enzyme based nanosensors for single live cell detection of free zinc and copper"
Carol Fierke and Anna Mapp
"Kinetic characterization of endogenous and small molecule transcriptional activator complexes"
Carol Fierke and James Penner-Hahn
"Characterization of the yeast metallome"
Carol Fierke and Nils Walter
"Structure and conformational changes in the RNase P-substrate complex by ensemble and single molecule fluorescence spectroscopy"
Ari Gafni and Bruce Palfey
"Single molecule spectroscopy studies of flavoenzyme interactions"
Jason Gestwicki and Erik Zuiderweg
"The Structural Biology of Small Molecule-Chaperone Interactions"
Gary Glick and Mark Saper
"Towards a structural model of inhibition of the mitochondrial F1F0-ATPase "
Gary Glick and Nils Walter
"Structural architecture and conformational changes in F1F0-ATPase induced by the drug Bz-423"
Kristina Hakansson and Anna Mapp
"High resolution mapping of small molecule transcriptional activator binding events"
Robert Kennedy and Richard Neubig
"Fluorescence analysis of Gα/RGS binding and function"
Neil Marsh and Vincent Pecoraro
"De novo peptide design"
Henry Mosberg and Richard Neubig
"Peptide inhibitors of RGS proteins"
Richard Neubig and Roger Sunahara
"G protein activation mechanisms"
Richard Neubig, Hank Mosberg, and John Tesmer
"Molecular basis for the activation of leukemia associated RhoGEF (LARG)"
Richard Neubig and John Tesmer
"Structural characterization of RGS-inhibitor complexes"
Vincent Pecoraro and James Penner-Hahn
"Determinants of metal-protein structure"
Vincent Pecoraro and Nils Walter
"Using FRET to understand heteromeric bundle formation"
Mark Saper and Ronald Woodard
"Tyrosine phosporylation in the biogenesis of a bacterial capsule polysaccharide"
Roger Sunahara and John Tesmer
"Characterization of stabilizing mutants of cocaine esterase"
Roger Sunahara and John Tesmer
"Structural analysis of GPCR signaling complexes"
Roger Sunahara and John Tesmer
"G protein-coupled receptor structure and function"
