Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
8/12/2019 Biochemistry Research Division
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/biochemistry-research-division 1/3
UH Home / NSM Home / Department of Biology and Biochemistry / About Biology & Biochemis try / Research Divisions / Biochemistry
About Biology & Biochemistry
Message From the Chair
Research Divisions
Biochemistry
Cell and Molecular Biology
Ecology and Evolution
Gr aduate
Undergraduate
People
Research
News & Events
Seminars
Resources
Giving to Biology & Biochemistry
Contact Us
The Division of Biochemistry in the Department of Biology and Biochemistry at the University of Houston
focuses on the study of the biochemistry and biophysics of living systems. Our research activities are
highly inter- and multi-disciplinary which translates into graduate training at the disciplinary interfaces.
Current research strengths in our Division fall into four themes:
Structural and Computational Biology/Biophysics
This theme includes the elucidation of the three dimensional structures of biological molecules and the
nature of their interactions with natural and designed ligands, mechanisms of biomolecular function at the
single molecule level, computational studies of protein structure and function, computer-aided drug designtheoretical biophysics, synthetic biology, and biotechnology. Targets for some of these studies include
those important for the development of countermeasures against biological threat agents including
botulinum and cholera toxins. Other researchers in this theme study protein transport channels, cell
adhesion factors, protein biosynthesis machinery, nucleic acid microarrays, and RNA structure, function,
and detection.
Primary Faculty
Jim Briggs
Robert Fox
Xiaolian Gao
Robert Schwartz
Yuhong Wang
Hye-Jeong Yeo
Joint Faculty
Patrick C. Cirino
Monte Pettitt
Richard Willson
Microbiology
Genomics, membrane transport, quorum sensing and the basis of virulence are key areas of interest. The
University has a next generation sequencing system (Solexa) that allows rapid re-sequencing of known
bacterial genomes, comparison of closely related genomes, and transcriptional analysis. Software for rap
analysis of these types of data has been and is being developed. Comparisons of Streptococcus genome
BiochemistryDepartment of Biology andBiochemistry NSMIT (MyNSM)Calendar NSM Home
UH Home Apply to UH Students Faculty & Staff Alumni Parents Visitors Search
8/12/2019 Biochemistry Research Division
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/biochemistry-research-division 2/3
are revealing the basis of virulence. Studies of Bacillus genomes are teaching us how spores of these
organisms become highly resistant to various stresses, and how asymmetry is generated during
development. Studies of transcription are revealing how gene expression is regulated temporally and
spatially. In this regard, the role of Rho termination factor in global regulation and the response of bacteria
high levels of background radiation are of special interest. Electrophysiological techniques are used to
decipher the molecular mechanisms of pore-forming proteins from a variety of organisms, with special
emphasis on translocons used for the assembly of adhesins and pili needed for pathogen infections, and
porins involved in the uptake of antibiotics and extracellular signals controlling virulence.
Primary Faculty
Masaya Fujita
Bill Widger
Hye-Jeong Yeo
Joint Faculty
Anne Delcour
Jim Musser
Enzymology and Signaling
Multi-facet approaches are employed by several faculty members to delineate the structures, reaction
mechanisms, and regulations of a wide range of enzymes essential to redox reactions, signal
transductions, drug activations, detoxifications, gene regulations, translation, etc. These research
laboratories are well equipped for biochemical, biophysical, computational, and molecular biological studie
A recently created focus is single-molecule detection of the protein synthesis process.
Primary Faculty
Masaya Fujita
David Tu
Yuhong Wang
Bill Widger
Joint Faculty
Don Fox
Nucleic Acids Biochemistry and Genomics
Research in this area is at the interface of chemistry and biological sciences. Array hybridization and mas
spectrometric techniques are employed for bacterial and viral detection in response to needs generated b
the biodefense and medical diagnostic communities. This includes ongoing efforts to develop novel
Microarray BIOCHIP technologies and sensors utilizing retroreflectors. Single molecule methodologies are
being employed to study complex systems such as ribosomes as well as the dynamics of model RNAs.
Novel technologies for the synthesis of large quantities of s iRNAs are being evaluated. Unique graphic
capabilities provided by the Texas Learning and Computation Center are being used to understand the ea
history of the translational machinery and computational methods are being utilized to compare nucleic
acids and to design hybridization probes of various types.
Primary Faculty
George Fox
Xiaolian Gao
Bill Widger
Joint Faculty
Richard Willson
8/12/2019 Biochemistry Research Division
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/biochemistry-research-division 3/3
Quick Links
Campus Map
Parking
Library
Academic Calendar
Tuition & Fees
Bookstore
Get Help
More UH
A-Z Index
Directory
Social Media
President
Emergency
Jobs at UH
Required Reports
UH System
Legal Info
Policies
Public Information Act
State of Texas
Institutional Résumé
MySafeCampus
Fraud Reporting
Copyright
University of Houston 4800 Calhoun Rd. Houston, TX, 77004 713-743-2255
©2014 University of Hous ton. All rights res erved. Report a problem with this page
