Biochemistry

The Buchan lab studies how cells regulate gene expression at the level of cytoplasmic messenger RNA (mRNA), the templates of protein synthesis. Areas of particular interest include mRNA-protein bodies called stress granules and P-bodies, which regulate mRNA function, cell signaling, and are implicated in the pathology of viral replication, various cancers and neurodegenerative diseases such as ALS.

Peptides and proteins play a vital role in almost every cellular process in living organisms. Our research discovers and determines structural information on peptides and proteins to design drugs to more effectively treat human disease.

Xinxin Ding, PhD, department head, Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy—studies enzyme function, regulation and genetics as applied to translational research for drug safety and efficacy and genetic and environmental risks for chemical toxicity. Author of nearly 200 peer-reviewed papers, book chapters and articles, he serves as associate editor for “Drug Metabolism and Disposition” and “Acta Pharmaeutica Sinica B.” Grants from the National Cancer Institute and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences of the National Institute of Health fund his work, in part. Former chair of the NIH XNDA study section (2016-2018), he currently chairs (2018-19) Drug Metabolism and Disposition Division of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics..

I am investigating a human connective tissue disorder in mice. I am also investigating the role of gut bacteria in colon cancer risk in both a mouse model of colon cancer and in humans with colon cancer.

The broad objective of our research program in Bioorganic Chemistry and Chemical Biology is to construct protein therapeutics, protein mimetics, biomaterials, and biosensors. Our research at the University of Arizona is highly multidisciplinary and utilizes techniques in organic synthesis, biochemistry, molecular biology, and a host of physical characterization methods. Our research motto is simple: Unraveling mysteries and Enabling discoveries.

The long-term goal of research in my lab is to understand the molecular mechanisms of muscle contraction. I am especially interested in how contractile proteins of muscle sarcomeres regulate the force and speed of contraction in the heart. The question is important from both basic science and clinical perspectives because mutations in sarcomere proteins of muscle are a leading cause of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), the most common cause of sudden cardiac death in the young and a prevalent cause of heart failure in adults. Myosin binding protein-C (MyBP-C) is a muscle regulatory protein that speeds actomyosin cycling kinetics in response to adrenaline (b-adrenergic stimuli) and is one of the two most commonly affected proteins linked to HCM. Currently, the major research focus in my lab is understanding the mechanisms by which cMyBP-C regulates contractile speed and mechanisms by which mutations in cMyBP-C cause disease.

Laurence Hurley's long-time research interest is in molecular targeting of DNA, first by covalent binders (CC-1065 and psorospermin), then as compounds that target protein–DNA complexes (pluramycins and Et 743), and most recently as four-stranded DNA structures (G-quadruplexes and i-motifs). He was the first to show that targeting G-quadruplexes could inhibit telomerase (Sun et al. [1997] J. Med. Chem., 40, 2113) and that targeting G-quadruplexes in promoter complexes results in inhibition of transcription (Siddiqui-Jain et al. [2002] Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 99, 11593).

Xianchun Li's research aims to use genetics to shed light on the defense signaling of plants and the counterdefense of herbivorous insects, which may result in the design of new insecticides for crops like corn, in defense against the corn earworm. Additionally, Dr. Li's research is to define, globally, the regulatory triangle between nuclear receptors (NRs), their ligands, and cytochrome P450s (P450s) in Drosophila melanogaster, and to investigate the molecular mechanisms of Bt and conventional insecticide resistance.

Our current research program use an integrative approach at the whole animal, isolated organ, cellular and molecular levels to investigate developmental adaptations in pancreatic β-cells and insulin sensitivity that result from early life risk factors, such as intrauterine growth restriction, and increase risk of glucose intolerance and Diabetes in later life.

Precise diagnosis and treatment of disease requires an ability to target agents to specific tissues and cell types within those tissues. We are developing agents that exhibit cell type specificity for these purposes.

We seek to produce new drugs that harness molecules produced during the natural immune response in order to treat cancer and pain. Such compounds may also provide new treatments for heart failure and alcoholism.

We investigate how proteins work in healthy organisms and how they fail in disease. We determine the atomic structures of proteins and the underlying biochemistry that gives rise to protein function. We also develop new proteins as drug targets for treating cancer and cardiovascular disease.