Michael Palmer

• Fluorescence
• Antibiotics
• Membranes
• Lipopeptides
• Pore-forming toxins

Michael Palmer's research focuses on protein-lipid interaction in biological membranes:

• Structure and function of bacterial pore-forming toxins
• Structure and function of lipopeptide antibiotics
• Development of fluorescence methods to study protein-protein and protein-membrane interaction

His experiments involve a range of methods including fluorescence, protein chemistry, and molecular biology.

Michael Palmer teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses. Recent course offerings include metabolism, biochemical pharmacology, biological membranes, and computer methods in protein structure and function.

Recent publications include

• Moreira, R.; Barnawi, G.; Beriashvili, D.; Palmer, M. and Taylor, S. D. (2018). The effect of replacing the ester bond with an amide bond and of overall stereochemistry on the activity of daptomycin, Bioorg. Med. Chem. 27 : 240-246.
• Barnawi, G.; Noden, M.; Taylor, R.; Lohani, C.; Beriashvili, D.; Palmer, M. and Taylor, S. D. (2018). An Entirely Fmoc Solid Phase Approach to the Synthesis of Daptomycin Analogs, Biopolymers, Peptide Science, 111(1), e23094.
• Beriashvili, D.; Taylor, R.; Kralt, B.; Abu Mazen, N.; Tayler, S. and Palmer, M. (2018). Mechanistic studies on the effect of membrane lipid acyl chain composition on daptomycin pore formation, Chem. Phys. Lipids .
• Jin, T.; Brefo-Mensah, E.; Fan, W.; Zeng, W.; Li, Y.; Zhang, Y. and Palmer, M. (2018). Crystal structure of the Streptococcus agalactiae CAMP factor provides insights into its membrane-permeabilizing activity., J. Biol. Chem. 293 : 11867-11877.
• Mehdizadeh Gohari, I.; Brefo-Mensah, E. K.; Palmer, M.; Boerlin, P. and Prescott, J. F. (2018). Sialic acid facilitates binding and cytotoxic activity of the pore-forming Clostridium perfringens NetF toxin to host cells, PLoS One 11:e0206815Lohani CR, Taylor R, Palmer M, Taylor SD. Solid-phase synthesis and in vitro biological activity of a Thr4→Ser4 analog of daptomycin (2015) Bioorg Med Chem Lett. 25:5490-5494

Please see Michael Palmer's Google Scholar profile for a current list of his peer-reviewed articles.

• Boehringer Ingelheim Award, 1999  
• 'DGHM - Förderpreis' (young investigator award, German Society of Hygiene and Microbiology), 1998

• Cross appointed to the Department of Biology
• Member of the Institute of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
• Waterloo Centre for Microbial Research (member)

• Chemistry Department seminar coordinator, 2011-present
• Chemistry Department Awards Committee, 2008-present     
• Science Building Committee, 2008-15

The following news stories have featured Michael Palmer's research:

• February 4, 2016:  Chemists develop new method to improve the discovery of antibiotics

• April 17, 2015:  Waterloo scientists win Seed Fund for antibiotic and lung disease research

2000 Habilitation Medical Microbiology, University of Mainz, Germany

1991 Dr. med. (M.D.), University of Mainz, Germany

1987 Approbation als Arzt (Approved Physician), University of Giessen, Germany