Timothy C. Umland

Dr. Umland received a Ph.D. from the Department of Crystallography at the University of Pittsburgh (USA), and his B.S. degree in Chemistry from the University at Buffalo (USA). He conducted post-doctoral training as an IRTA Fellow within the Laboratory of Molecular Biology at NIDDK/NIH (Bethesda, MD, USA). He currently has a primary appointment as a Research Scientist at the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute (HWI), where he is a principal investigator, and a secondary appointment as an Assistant Professor within the Department of Structural Biology at the University of Buffalo. The overarching goal of the Umland Lab is to use macromolecular crystallography combined with biochemical, molecular biology, and genetics to explore important elements of infectious disease. The objective is to both extend the fundamental understanding of how microbial pathogens interact with their respective hosts as well as to identify new antimicrobial targets and therapeutics. One research interested is the identification and characterization of unrecognized and underexploited potential antimicrobial targets within multi-drug resistant gram-negative bacilli (MDR-GNB) using the phenotype of in vivo essentiality (i.e., bacterial genes essential for growth and survival during host infection). Studies are underway to identify antimicrobial drug leads for select protein targets identified using this strategy. A second research interest is focused upon identifying and characterizing virus protein-host protein interactions (PPIs). Viruses encode a highly limited set of functionality, and therefore rely on subverting cellular machinery. Study of these virus-host PPIs reveals both the mechanisms by which viruses co-opt cellular functions and potential new antiviral targets recalcitrant to the development of drug resistance. An additional rationale for studying virus-host PPIs is to understand virus evolution with respect to PPI involvement in virulence, pathogenesis, and host tropism.

Biography Updated on 3 July 2013

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