at New Mexico Tech
ADMINISTRATION: |
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Dr. Tanja Pietraß, Professor of Chemistry, is the INBRE Institutional Liaison for New Mexico Tech. |  |
Dr. Rebecca Reiss, Associate Professor of Biology, is Chair of the Bioinformatics Working Group. She organizes the INBRE Seminar Series. In Spring 2007, she will be teaching a distance education bioinformatics course. | |
PROJECTS: |
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Dr. Alexander Kornienko, Associate Professor of Chemistry, is working on the "Elucidation of the Pancratistatin Cytotoxic Pharmacophore." Pancratistatin is a component of the oil of the Narciclasus poeticus daffodil, used for thousands of years as a folk medicine. This compound has the potential to kill cancerous tumor cells, but is not currently available in useful amounts. Dr. Kornienko's project involves finding ways to synthesize Pancratistatin and to determine how its cytotoxic effects are produced. | |||
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Dr. Snezna Rogelj, Professor of Biology, is investigating "Degradative Enzymes Found in Bacitracin." Biofilms form when bacteria clump together and excrete a polymeric substance that protects the colony from environmental degradation, both on surfaces and in the body. The antibiotic Bacitracin, derived from bacteria that form biofilms, was found to contain contaminants that break down proteins and DNA. | |||
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Dr. Scott Shors, Assistant Professor of Biology, is collaborating with Dr. Snezna Rogelj and Dr. Thomas Kieft to develop new technologies to detect and destroy bio threats such as small pox, bacterial toxins, E. coli H5:O157, prions, and recombinant organisms. They are developing a drug that inhibits pox viruses by over 500 fold, a different drug that has broad antibacterial activities, a novel test to detect prions, and doing basic research to investigate the innate immune response to viral infection. | |||
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Dr. Wim Steelant, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, is exploring "Glycosphingolipid Enriched Microdomains in Cancer Cell Invasion." He seeks to discover the role of membranes in mediating cellular communication with the external environment in both the normal and diseased states. | |||
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Dr. Peng Zhang, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, is working on nanotechnology materials with chemical and biological applications. Projects include the development of nanoparticles with light frequency upconversion properties for sensing and imaging biological effects, creating nanocomposites for use in surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy for trace chemical detection, and the use of carbon nanotubes as supports for catalytic materials. | |||