Michael Best, an assistant professor of organic chemistry, recently received a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation. The award includes a 5-year, $580,000 grant to support his laboratory research on the molecular mechanisms by which proteins bind to lipids presented on the surfaces of cellular membranes. Such events control many biological processes and are aberrant in numerous disease states, including cancer. Better understanding of these interactions and the defects associated with them is important to determining the underlying causes of diseases.
Best’s research involves synthesizing derivatives corresponding to important lipids and applying them as probes so the details of cell surface protein binding events can be characterized at the molecular level. The CAREER Award is the NSF’s most prestigious award for young faculty members early in their careers.
For more information, visit the Best Research Group website
Selected Publications
Optimization of a pipemidic acid-based autotaxin inhibitor. Hoeglund, A.B.; Bostic, H.E.; Howard, A.L.; Wanjala, I.W.; Best, M.D.; Baker, D.L.; Parrill, A.L. J. Med. Chem. 2010, 53, 1056–1066.
Modular synthesis of biologically active phosphatidic acid probes using click chemistry. M.D. Smith, C.G. Sudhahar, D. Gong, R.V. Stahelin, M.D. Best, Mol. Biosyst. 2009, 5, 962-972.
Click chemistry and bioorthogonal reactions: Unprecedented selectivity in the labeling of biological molecules. M.D. Best, Biochemistry, 2009, 48, 6571-6584.
Synthesis of modular headgroup conjugates corresponding to all seven phosphatidylinositol polyphosphate isomers for convenient probe generation. D. Gong, H.E. Bostic, M.D. Smith, M.D. Best, Eur. J. Org. Chem. 2009, 24, 4170-4179.
Modular synthesis of bis (monoacylglycero)phosphate for convenient access to analogues bearing hydrocarbon and perdeuteratedacyl chains of varying length. M.M. Rowland, M.D.; Best, Tetrahedron 2009, 65, 6844-6849.
Microplate-based characterization of protein-phosphoinositide binding interactions using a synthetic biotinylated headgroup analogue. D. Gong, M.D. Smith, D. Manna, H.E. Bostic, W. Cho, M.D. Best, Bioconjugate Chem. 2009, 20, 310-316.
Microplate-based analysis of protein-membrane binding interactions via immobilization of whole liposomes containing a biotinylated anchor. E.A. Losey, M.D. Smith, M. Meng, M.D. Best, Bioconjugate Chem. 2009, 20, 376-383.
Synthesis and Convenient functionalization of azide-labeled diacylglycerol analogues for modular access to biologically active lipid probes. M.D. Smith, D. Gong, D. Sudhahar, J.C. Reno, R.V. Stahelin, M.D. Best, Bioconjugate Chem. 2008,19, 1855-1863.
Visit the Quest Gallery at Trace, UT’s digital archive, to access publications of other Quest Scholars of the Week.