Mesecar Lab-The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC)

The main interest of the Mesecar lab is the Structure & Function of Enzymes of biomedical and industrial importance.   One of our fundamental goals is to gain a deeper understanding into the roles of protein dynamics and conformational changes in molecular recognition and catalytic processes.

We are currently studying the structure and function of enzymes and receptors involved in cancer chemoprevention, cancer cell proliferation, cell longevity (aging), bacterial and viral pathogenesis, and bioremediation. We are actively involved in the discovery of both natural and synthetic compounds that can be used as anti-cancer, anti-viral and anti-bacterial therapeutics, as well as compounds that can prevent cancer and promote longevity. We are also prospecting the biosphere for novel enzymes than can be utilized and/or reengineered for enzymatic decontamination of hazardous chemicals. 

Due to the complex nature of enzymatic catalysis and molecular recognition, researchers in the Mesecar lab routinely use a variety of state-of-the-art experimental approaches and tools from the fields of chemistry, biology and physics.  Our main experimental tools are static and time-resolved x-ray crystallography, enzyme chemistry & kinetics, molecular biology, bioinformatics, proteomics, and molecular modeling in our research projects.  We have recently expanded our research horizons and have established our own High-Throughput-Screening Lab that is equipped with liquid-handling robots, multi-mode plate readers, and a chemical library composed of over 60,000 synthetic compounds, 200 natural products, and 5000 natural product extracts.