Cavanagh Lab

Our group is generally interested in how the specific structure and inherent flexibility of proteins helps them carry out their biological roles. For a few years and with some success, we have been focusing on proteins involved in bacterial response and protection. Proteins responsible for keeping bacteria alive. If you want to see what we're doing in this regard, flip around the website a little and maybe look at a couple of examples of our publications (listed below).

We use NMR as our big platform technology, but we are pretty well-rounded when it comes to addressing our research problems. Consequently some sophisticated mass spectrometry is becoming a major player in our work.

See our major research intersests to the right. Click on them to find a detailed explaination.

Alzheimer's disease robs millions of older adults of their memories, their work, and their family and social lives. The theft might be occurring because a "watchman" in the human brain has fallen asleep on the job, says Dr. Benjamin Bobay, a research assistant professor in the Department of Molecular and Structural Biochemistry. So he is studying the watchman, trying to determine if he is truly sleeping on the job and how to help him provide better protection for the brain. Bobay's "watchman" is a protein known as calbindin D28K, a neuro-protective molecule designed to ensure certain processes in the brain occur normally. Calbindin protects the brain in several ways, such as binding metal ions and regulating other proteins. One of those proteins, caspase-3, is involved in the formation of the plaques and tangles of protein fibers in and around brain cells that are the hallmarks of Alzheimer's. Elevated concentrations of metal ions - about three to five times higher than normal - also have been found near the plaques, leading researchers to believe that is another characteristic of the disease.

http://www.ncsu.edu/research/results/vol9n3/06.html

Most of Dr. Cavanagh's publications can be found here.

Most Recent 3

(1)H, (13)C, and (15)N resonance assignments and secondary structure prediction of the full-length transition state regulator AbrB from Bacillus anthracis. Biomol NMR Assign. 2011 Olson AL, Bobay BG, Melander C, Cavanagh J.

Flustramine inspired synthesis and biological evaluation of pyrroloindoline triazole amides as novel inhibitors of bacterial biofilms. Org Biomol Chem. 2011 Bunders C, Cavanagh J, Melander C. Aug 7;9(15):5476-81.

Observing selected domains in multi-domain proteins via sortase-mediated ligation and NMR spectroscopy. J Biomol NMR. 2011 Refaei MA, Combs A, Kojetin DJ, Cavanagh J, Caperelli C, Rance M, Sapitro J, Tsang P. Jan;49(1):3-7.