Chemistry and Biochemistry Research

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Research in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry runs the gamut from the creation of new electronic materials to understanding protein structure to development of new pharmaceuticals. Led by faculty members with international reputations, undergraduate and graduate student researchers use state-of-the-art instrumentation to address questions that directly impact our society.

MAJOR INSTRUMENT ACQUISITION

500 MHz Bruker AVANCE NEO with liquid nitrogen cryoprobe
Cryoprobe offers superior resolution: ~4x gain in S/N compared to RT probe
24-Sample capacity autosampler allows users to queue multiple experiments
TopSpin spectral processing software free to all 麻豆传媒-affiliated users
Superior cryogen depletion efficiency
Funded by NSF/MRI grant which was a large effort led by Prof. Jim Bann
Available for use since November 2023

PATENTS/PRESENTATIONS SINCE JAN 2023

63 presentations in 2023 at regional and national conferences by faculty members and students.
4 new patents issued since 2020 involving vaccines for anthrax, antivirals for COVID and antibiotics with novel mode of action.

Faculty connection to industry

Dr. Alexandre A. Shvartsburg

麻豆传媒

Shimadzu Card

Heartland Mobility card

Analytical Chem

RECENT GRANT ACTIVITY 2023

28 proposals submitted
$6.6 M requested
12 active research grants including 4 new grants
$4.2 M in active grant funding
Support for graduate students, undergraduate students, and postdocs

Grant highlights

Beck, NIH, $736 K/ 3 years, 鈥淢yopalladin鈥檚 role in cardiac muscle function and disease鈥�
Groutas, NIH, $1.1 M/ 5 years, 鈥淪mall Molecule Protease Inhibitors against MERS-CoV鈥�
Groutas, NIH, $1.1 M/ 5 years, 鈥淪mall molecule inhibitors against 3C-like protease of SARS-CoV-2鈥�
Wang, NSF, $238 K/ 3 years, 鈥淟EAPS-MPS: Exploring Thiophosphates as Balanced Middle-infrared Nonlinear Optical Materials鈥�
Shvartsburg, NSF, $475 K/ 3 years, 鈥淪tructurally Specific Isotopic Shifts Across Analytical Separations鈥�
Wu, NIH, $411 K / 3 years, 鈥淐hemical tools to target TREM2 in Alzheimer's disease鈥�

STUDENT RESEARCH

18 PhD, 6 MS students
Graduate Presentations at Southwest Regional ACS meeting (OKC), NOBCChe (New Orleans), Biophysical Society, and others.
Hosted 2^ndAnnual Chemistry and Biochemistry Undergraduate Research Showcase.
6 undergraduate students received ACS UG/Local Section awards
5 undergraduate students received K-INBRE grants
Undergraduate presentations at Innovation Festival, K-INBRE symposium, Protein Society, etc.

PUBLICATION HIGHLIGHTS

26 peer-reviewed publications since Jan 2023.

Drug discovery against SARS-CoV-2

Chang KO, Li P, Kim Y, Dampalla CS, Nguyen HN, Meyerholz DK, Johnson D, Lovell S, Groutas WC, Perlman S. Potent 3CLpro inhibitors effective against SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV in animal models by therapeutic treatment. mBio. 2024 Feb 14; 15 (2): e02878-23.

Discovery of new optoelectronics materials

Cicirello G, Wang M, Sham QP, Hart JL, Williams NL, Yin H, Cha JJ, Wang J. Two-Dimensional Violet Phosphorus P₁₁: A Large Band Gap Phosphorus Allotrope. Am. Chem. Soc. 2023 March 30; 145 (14), 8218鈥�8230

High-resolution separation of challenging analytes

Thurman HA, Wijegunawardena G, Berthias F, Wu H, Jensen ON, Shvartsburg AA. Multiplatform High-Definition Ion Mobility Separations of the Largest Epimeric Peptides. Chem. 2024 Feb 1; 96 (6) 2318-2326.

Structure-function relationships in proteins relevant to cancer metastasis

Albraiki S, Ajiboye O, Sargent R, Beck MR. Functional comparison of full-length palladin to isolated actin binding domain. Protein Sci. 2023 May;32(5):e4638.

Total synthesis and structural analysis of glycosylated proteins implicated in Alzheimer鈥檚 Disease.

Wijegunawardena G, Castillo E, Henrickson B, Davis R, Condello C, Wu H. Total Chemical Synthesis of Glycosylated TREM2 Ectodomain. ACS Chemical Neuroscience, 2023, 14, 11, 2243鈥�2251.