Researchers in the Redinbo Laboratory uses the tools of structural, molecular and chemical biology to examine a range of dynamic cellular processes central to human health.
Current projects include the discovery of new antimicrobials targeted to drug-resistant bacteria, the design of novel proteins engineered to detect and eliminate toxic chemicals, and the development of small-molecule to cell-based methods to improve anticancer chemotherapeutics.
We also continue our focus on determining the crystal structures of macromolecular complexes, including those involving human nuclear receptors central to transcriptional regulation, bacterial proteins involved in DNA manipulation and human cell contact, and enzymes central to key cellular processes.
Graduate student Andrew Hemmert in the Redinbo Group, has been selected to receive a Graduate Education Advancement Board Impact Award. This award, sponsored by the Graduate School's external advancement board of private citizens, recognizes outstanding graduate student research of particular benefit to North Carolina. The Impact Awards Selection Committee, comprised of faculty from across campus, reviewed a large number of exemplary applications. Andrew's project was selected as having exceptional quality and impact.
Andrew's research focuses on treatment options against nerve agent chemical weapons, some of the deadliest compounds ever created by man. Current treatments for nerve agent poisoning offer only limited protection and must be administered rapidly to be effective. An ideal treatment would be an intervention capable of quickly destroying a broad range of nerve agents. Andrew has developed a protein-based therapy with the enhanced ability to detoxify nerve agents up to 10,000-fold faster than current treatments. This designed protein is considered by the U.S. military to be a promising therapy candidate for nerve agent protection, and Andrew is now developing these reagents into injectable therapeutics to protect at-risk personnel, along with miniaturized detectors to alert troops to the presence of specific nerve agents. The goal of his research is to provide an array of commercial products designed to advance North Carolina's biotechnology industry and save the lives of soldiers.
Contact: Matt Redinbo; (919) 843-8910 office; (919) 962-7576 lab