Many of the faculty members in the Department of Pharmacology utilize the human genome sequence and molecular structure to define how and where pharmacological processes occur. Knowledge of the human genome enables our faculty to identify the targets of pharmacologically important molecules. Defining the molecular structure of the target protein allows pharmacological mechanisms of molecules to be defined. The centers and facilities that support this research include the DNA Array Facility, the Computation Bioscience Program, the Mass Spectrometry Shared Resource Facility, the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Shared Resource Facility, and the X-ray Crystallography Shared Resource Facility.
Post Genome Era and Molecular Structure Research
Primary Faculty
Mair E. Churchil, Ph.D.
Professor
Ph.D., 1987, Johns Hopkins Univ.
Structure and mechanism in gene regulation; biophysical and structural studies of protein-nucleic acid and protein-protein complexes in chromatin and bacterial pathogenesis.
David Jones, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Ph.D., 1989, Univ. of Cambridge
Molecular mechanism of alcohols and anesthetic actions; structure and function of biomolecules; NMR spectroscopy, x-ray crystallography, biophysics and molecular biology.
Tatiana Kutateladze, Ph.D.
Professor
Ph.D., 1988, Moscow State Univ.
Molecular mechanism of alcohols and anesthetic actions; structure and function of biomolecules; NMR spectroscopy, x-ray crystallography, biophysics and molecular biology.
Secondary Faculty
John Janetzko, Ph.D.
H.B.Sc., University of TorontoPh.D., Harvard University
My laboratory's focus is twofold: 1. We aim to understand the molecular mechanisms governing the function and regulation of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), and 2. We aim to leverage our mechanistic understanding to develop new strategies for targeting GPCRs in human disease.