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Research

Biomolecular Antimicrobial Therapies

Several projects in the lab are focused on developing enzymes for use as antimicrobial agents in treating a variety of bacterial infections. Using directed evolution and other technologies, we are engineering therapeutic candidates to meet the following design specifications:

  • biocidal activity towards drug resistant pathogens
  • decreased immunogenicity in the context of the human immune system
  • improved capacity to degrade bacterial biofilms

Therapeutic Protein Deimmunization 

In collaboration with Chris Bailey-Kellogg of the Dartmouth computer Science Department, we are working to develop, implement, and validate integrated computational and experimental protein deimmunziation technologies. Our methods seamlessly integrate computational T cell epitope prediction with in silicomodeling of the structural and functional consequences of epitope deleting mutations. Deimmunized proteins are designed, produced, and analyzed in house. Current projects include deimmunization of enzymes for use in treating cancer and drug-resistant bacterial infections.

Gene Library Construction Technologies

Working closely with Professor Chris Bailey-Kellogg from the Dartmouth Computer Sciences Department, we are developing novel, integrated, computational and experimental recombinant gene library construction technologies that can be used to generate therapeutic proteins with enhanced efficacy. In the course of our studies, we identify and address limitations of various microbial platforms commonly used in library construction and screening.