Our research focuses on developing synthetic methodologies which exploit enzymes as catalysts to provide the chiral building blocks needed to construct unnatural amino acids. We are interested in using unnatural amino acids to prepare peptides with increased proteolytic stability which may find use in the biomedical and related fields. Our group utilizes many analytical techniques such as NMR, Mass Spectrometry, HPLC, and various other spectroscopic methods to answer the questions raised in our research efforts.

We are also interested in exploiting the power of modern Mass Spectrometry methods in a variety of areas. We have an ongoing project in the development of novel peptide tagging strategies which makes use of free radical chemistry to aid in the predictable, site specific, fragmentation of peptides in the gas phase.

Active Research Grants

National Science Foundation, "CAREER: Bioorganic Research at USM. Development of Novel Somatostatin and Neurotensin Analogues"

National Institutes of Health (R15), “Modification of Proteins and Peptides with Free Radical Precursors”

National Science Foundation RIG, “Novel Preparation of Various Unnatural Amino Acids and Their Incorporation into Peptides of Biological Significance”