Meet the Professor in charge and the team behind the AMPed project. Who are we?
Research
Our research at URI has focused on using solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) to prepare diverse combinatorial libraries of both naturally-occurring and engineered peptides for further study. Learn more.
Location
Our facility serves a wide spectrum of research, laboratories and innovation interests for the scientific community. Check it out!
Thanks to the work of Tripti and my two current graduate students Abraham Herrara
and Sunandha Acharya, the AMPed database has migrated to a permanent home at URI
with the domain name amped.uri.edu. This will enable my research group to maintain
our current high profile as leaders in the research area of design and synthesis
of novel antimicrobial peptides and to address the crisis in antimicrobial resistance
that threatens the future of medicine. Our peptide molecular modeling project in collaboration
with Faramarz Joodaki and Professor Michael Greenfield of Chemical Engineering.
On the training level, I have an enthusiastic group of Biochemistry undergraduates who persist
in doing many antimicrobial testing experiments in my lab despite the disruptive move of
my laboratory to Woodward Hall after 13 years in Morrill hall. We are currently analyzing
their data from the last 2 academic years, and then publish their results soon.
Tools Team
Sunandha Acharya M.S.Csc, Nicholas Mamrak Bsc, Mohamed Merali PharmD
3D Peptide Team
Sunandha Acharya M.S.Csc, Abraham Herrera M.S.Csc
AMPed Team
Abraham Herrera, Sunandha Acharya, Tripti Garg, George Konstantinidis, Chi Sen, Mohamed Merali, Nicholas Mamrak, George Konstantinidis, Jesus Mata, Airel Sosa, Roxanne Lacroix, David Ryder, Daniel DuCharme, Greg Gardner, Carmine Bevilacqua, Christopher Mills, Mlngyang Zhao, Brett Boudreau, Admir Monteiro, Eric Zhang, Kenneth Rahn
Research Interest
We investigate the complex interactions between biopolymers
peptides, proteins, DNA, RNA, lipids, and carbohydrates in order to
understand cellular physiology at the molecular level. Our research at
URI has focused on using solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) to
prepare diverse combinatorial libraries of both naturally-occurring
and engineered peptides for further study. We have designed
antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) based upon pleurocidin, isolated from
Winter Flounder, to combat the growing problem of antimicrobial
resistance in pathogenic microbes, and topoisomerase inhibitors based
on natural products for use in cancer chemotherapy. Our bioanalytical
chemistry research has involved the development of novel methods for
monitoring dynamic properties of peptides, proteins, lipids and DNA
using capillary electrophoresis (CE), circular dichroism (CD), and
nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The molecular
modeling/bioinformatics research area aims to expand the application
of molecular mechanics techniques in order to model dynamic processes
in the biopolymers we investigate.
Location
Address: Woodward Hall 9 E Alumni Ave, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI 02881, USA
