Two new ring-size varying analogues of ipomoeassin F were synthesized and evaluated. Improved cytotoxicity (IC50: from 1.8 nM) and in vitro protein translocation inhibition (IC50: 35 nM) derived from ring expansion imply that the binding pocket of Sec61α (isoform 1) can accommodate further structural modifications, likely in the fatty acid portion. Streamlined preparation of a […]
Congratulations to Ashley Anderson for being awarded an Honors Undergraduate Research Fellowship to support her research in Spring and Fall 2021. The short-term goal of Ashley’s research is to synthesize an amino acid-modified fatty acid fragment that can be used to develop chimeric molecular hybrids derived from ipomoeassin F and cotransin. Biological evaluation of such […]
Congratulations to Lauren Andrews for being awarded an Honors Undergraduate Research Fellowship to continue to support her research in Spring and summer 2021. The short-term goal of Lauren’s research is to couple a glucose donor with an arabinose acceptor to make a key disaccharide precursor that can be used to make novel derivatives of ipomoeassin […]
The Newell C. Cook Sr. and Jr. scholarship has been established in the memories of Newell Choice Cook Sr., and Newell Choice Cook Jr., by the generous donations of Kathleen L. Cook, Nancy C. Behforouz, and Mohammad Behforouz. The purpose of the scholarship is to help promote and reward excellence among students studying in the […]
Ashley is currently a Pre-Med honors student majoring in Chemistry at Ball State. This is her first academic research experience and she will be synthesizing fatty acid mimics derived from hydrophobic amino acids that can be utilized to prepare analogues of a natural product, ipomoeassin F, as novel inhibitors of the Sec61-mediated protein translocation at […]
Jada finished her high school diploma at the Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville, Illinois. She is currently a junior Pre-Med student majoring in Exercise Science at Ball State. This is her first academic research experience and she will be synthesizing a glucose monosaccharide precursor in collaboration with another undergraduate student.
Kwabena received his B.Sc. in Chemistry from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. He graduated as the 2018 overall best student of the Department of Chemistry. After a year as a teaching assistant there, Kwabena gained admission with full assistantship to the M.Sc. Chemistry program at Ball State. His research project […]
Our ipomoeassin research on protein translocation recently received funding support from NIH. With the financial aid, we will continue to develop new structural and functional chemical entities derived from ipomoeassin F to investigate Sec61-mediated protein biogenesis for its pharmaceutical potential. We will actively recruit and train graduate and undergraduate students to prepare them well for […]
Mary finished high school at University Practice Senior High School, Cape Coast, Ghana. She is currently a sophomore Pre-Med student majoring in Biochemistry at Ball State University. This is her second academic research experience. As a summer participant of the NSF LSAMP program, she will be first receiving research training through paper reading and review […]
Princess Walker joined the group in Aug 2019. She contributed to the large-scale synthesis of early-stage glucose building blocks that will be used to make new analogues of ipomoeassin F. Princess also helped train new group members. She will take a break from school and may come back to pursue graduate studies. Best wishes for […]