Min Lu
Project Summary:
The Structural Biology Core aims to provide a unique platform for Center investigators to engage in structure-based lead optimization projects by determining the x-ray crystallographic structures of antibacetrial agents bound to target proteins. We will provide services for all stages of structural analysis projects from protein expression and purification, biophysical characetrization of ligand-target protein interactions, crystallization and structure determinations to structure analysis and presentation. We will assist in expression and purification of recombinant proteins, characetrize in detail their ligand-binding properties using an array of biophysical techniques, and solve crystal structures of lead compound-target protein complexes. Our goal is to provide cetr research projects with access to state-of-the-art biochemistry, biophysics and structural biology technologies and expertise. The objective of the core is to help investigators realize the enormous potential of detailed structural information on inhibitor-protein interactions for target validation and lead optimization, thereby speeding the antibiotic discovery process.
Biography:
Dr. Lu received his Ph.D. in biophysical chemistry in 1990 from New York University, where he worked with Neville R. Kallenbach. He did postdoctoral work with Nancy Kleckner at Harvard University and with Peter S. Kim at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research of Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Lu joined Weill Cornell Medical College in 1996 as assistant professor of biochemistry and became associate professor in 2001 and professor in 2006. He joined Rutgers New Jersey Medical School as professor of microbiology and molecular genetics in 2010.
Contact info:
Public Health Research Institute Center
Rutgers New Jersey Medical School
ICPH Building, Room W450P
225 Warren Street
Newark, New Jersey 07103
Phone: (973) 854-3360
Email: lum1@njms.rutgers.edu
Project Summary:
Dr. Neiditch’s group is performing structure-function studies focused on CETR Project 3: Process and pathway based discovery of novel anti-TB drugs. To study the mechanistic basis of TB drug activity, his group is using diverse methods including biochemical, computational, and biophysical (mainly X-ray crystallographic) techniques.
PI Name:
Matthew B. Neiditch
Biography:
Dr. Matthew Neiditch is an Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry, and Molecular Genetics at Rutgers University - New Jersey Medical School. Dr. Neiditch received his B.S. from Rutgers University where he employed analytical techniques to study chemical properties of non-nutritive sweeteners. He received his Ph.D. from Baylor College of Medicine where he studied the molecular mechanism of VDJ recombination in the laboratory of Dr. David Roth in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Dr. Neiditch was a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Frederick Hughson in the Department of Molecular Biology at Princeton University. Here, Dr. Neiditch carried out structure-function studies of bacterial cell-cell communication.
Contact info:
Matthew B. Neiditch, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Dept. of Microbiology, Biochemistry, and Molecular Genetics
New Jersey Medical School
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
225 Warren St., Room E450U
Newark, NJ 07103
Ph (973)972-8980
matthew.neiditch@rutgers.edu
