Biochemistry

Research in Dr. Duong Bui's lab is driven by a fascination with how cells communicate through complex molecular signals—especially those carried by glycans. The lab combines bioanalytical chemistry and structural biology to uncover how glycan-mediated interactions shape viral infection, immune activation, and cancer progression.

Dr. Thorsten Dieckmann's research focuses on two areas of RNA related research: Small RNAs with interesting ligand binding or catalytic properties and the structure and function of RNA-protein complexes. The structure determination of RNA and RNA-protein complexes by NMR requires the development and application of heteronuclear, multi-dimensional NMR techniques in combination with complete or specific 13C, 15N, and 2H labeling of the molecules under investigation. In addition in vitro selection can be applied to find RNAs with high affinities for target proteins or modules of these proteins. The study of ion-binding to RNA and the investigation of the molecular dynamics of free RNAs and their complexes will add to a more complete picture of the structure and function of RNA and RNA-protein interactions on a molecular level.

Dr. John Honek's group works at the interface of chemistry and biochemistry. They apply chemical and biochemical principles and techniques to the problems of protein structure/function, as well as to elucidate the chemical mechanisms of several key enzymes, some of which have medical importance. Organic chemistry (organic synthesis of novel biophysical probes and enzyme inhibitors and protein chemical modification techniques), physical chemistry, and molecular modeling are being applied to complex protein structures. His group makes use of biochemical techniques such as recombinant DNA methodologies (PCR, site-directed mutagenesis, protein engineering, etc.), microbiology (for protein expression), and protein purification.

Dr. Subha Kalyaanamoorthy’s research is focused on developing and employing computational methods to address biological, health and environmental challenges. She involves a hybrid scientific approach, where she and her research group make new novel hypothesis using silico approaches and validate them in their wet lab. Their research mainly engages multiple disciplines, including molecular modeling and molecular dynamics simulations, Quantum modeling and simulations, protein biochemistry, machine learning, phylogenetic inference and bioinformatics to understand the structure, function, dynamics and evolution of proteins of interest. Drug discovery and synthetic biology are the key application areas of her research.

Dr. Elizabeth Meiering’s research group is elucidating how the primary amino acid sequence of a protein determines its folding and function. Knowledge of the molecular mechanisms governing protein folding, dynamics and function is essential for understanding natural proteins, misfolding and toxicity of variant proteins in disease and biotechnology, and engineering or designing proteins for a great, and barely tapped, range of modern biotechnological and medical applications.

Dr. Kirsten Meyer’s interdisciplinary research bridges biochemistry, microbiology, and pharmacology. Dr. Meyer's research group at the University of Waterloo explores microbial communication and competition to advance novel antimicrobial strategies. Currently they are uncovering the biochemical mechanisms behind the packaging of natural specialized metabolites into extracellular vesicles by Streptomyces bacteria, to enable bioengineering of microbial populations. The group also investigates the antimicrobial properties of these vesicles against problematic microbes and then designs bioinspired lipid nanoparticles for the targeted delivery of cocktails of antimicrobials.

Dr. David Sychantha's lab employs structural biology, enzymology, and chemical biology approaches to study how pathogenic bacteria maintain and modify their cell surfaces to resist antibiotics and evade the human immune system. Specifically, the lab is interested in the biochemical pathways bacteria use to regulate enzymes involved in remodelling the cell wall and controlling cell shape/structure. The long-term goal of the lab is to define the mechanisms of cell wall homeostasis to inform chemotherapeutic strategies to combat infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria.