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Discovery and Characterization of the Cylindrocyclophane Biosynthetic Pathway
(2016-05-17)
Nature constructs structurally diverse, bioactive molecules using enzymes. Many enzymes catalyze synthetically challenging reactions under mild, physiological conditions. Consequently, they have long been a source of ...
Understanding and Preventing Disease-Associated Anaerobic Choline Metabolism by the Human Gut Microbiota
(2016-05-17)
The consortium of microorganisms inhabiting the human gastrointestinal tract, our gut microbiota, has an extensive set of metabolic capabilities that directly influence human health. Over the past decade, DNA sequencing ...
Chemical Neurobiology of the Histone Lysine Demethylase KDM1A
(2016-05-18)
Epigenetic mechanisms regulate gene expression and mediate interactions between genetic factors and environmental exposures. The enzymes responsible for epigenetic regulation may thus be important therapeutic targets for ...
Towards Self-Replicating Informational Polymers
(2016-05-16)
The capability to transmit information from generation to generation is an essential feature of life. In all terrestrial life, DNA and RNA contain information in the form of a sequence of monomers and are copied in every ...
Reconstitution of the Final Step of Peptidoglycan Assembly in Staphylococcus aureus
(2016-05-10)
Bacterial peptidoglycan (PG) is an exoskeleton structure that maintains cell shape and protects cells from lysis. Peptidoglycan is essential in bacteria but is not found in mammalian cells. Therefore, it is the target for ...
Envelope biogenesis and spore formation in Bacillus subtilis
(2016-05-02)
The bacterial cell wall exoskeleton (or peptidoglycan) protects cells from osmotic lysis, specifies their shape, and its biosynthetic pathway is a widely-exploited antibiotic target. My thesis research focused on defining ...
Identifying Mechanisms of Apoptotic Pore Formation With Programmatic Ensemble Modeling
(2016-02-05)
Mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization is a key step in the apoptotic cell death program, regulating life-death decisions in response to cytotoxic drugs and other forms of cell stress. In this thesis I use mathematical ...
Identification of Small Molecule Inhibitors of 3-Phosphoglycerate Dehydrogenase to Target Serine Biosynthesis in Cancers
(2016-01-21)
Cancer cells are known to reprogram their metabolism in order to promote growth and proliferation. The amino acid serine is utilized in a plethora of anabolic reactions and supports the synthesis of all three major ...
Investigations of the Biosynthesis and Structure of Colibactin, a Cytotoxin Made by Human-Associated Escherichia Coli
(2016-01-13)
Humans exist in symbiosis with trillions of bacteria that are collectively referred to as the human microbiota. While commensal microbes are essential for health, some resident microbes can promote disease. Certain strains ...
The Role of Nutrient Sensing in Macrophage Polarization
(2016-01-26)
Macrophages are essential immune cells that belong to the innate immune system and are key orchestrators in the initiation and resolution stages of inflammation. Macrophages are found in every organ throughout the body ...