School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences

UB 2020 Collaborative Research

Photo of Mark Sutton and student at work in his lab.

Kenneth Blumenthal, PhD, chair and professor of biochemistry, serves as head of the Faculty Advisory Committee of MRBSB. He led initial efforts to develop it and has directed its evolution since its inception in 2005, along with biochemistry professor Richard Gronostajski, PhD. Currently, most of the faculty are active participants in strength seminars and symposia.

UB 2020’s impact on education

Our faculty lead efforts to develop new courses that address many aspects of molecular recognition, including undergraduate and graduate courses in gene annotation and bioinformatics.

Biochemistry faculty organize and participate in international symposia sponsored by the MRBSB, and continue to lead new initiatives in education and research.

While the MRBSB includes essential contributions from faculty outside our department, leadership from biochemistry has been crucial to its success.

Molecular Recognition in Biological Systems and Bioinformatics (MRBSB)

This faculty-led research group is dedicated to understanding the fundamental biology and molecular nature of disease by using small molecules, molecular structures, and pharmacodynamic approaches to understanding the complex nature of biological systems.

Researcher Spotlight

Comparative Genomics

3/7/12

Norma Nowak, PhD, studies global comparative genomics and differential gene expression analyses. She contributed to the creation of the BAC libraries used to sequence the human genome.
Ion Channel Structure-Function

3/7/12

Kenneth Blumenthal, PhD, is an expert in protein structures. He researches structure-function relationships in ion channels using naturally occurring toxins as probes of ion transport and gating processes. One of his goals is to design drugs directed at the target channel.
Exploring Stem Cells’ Potential to Repopulate and Heal Organs

3/7/12

Richard Gronostajski, PhD, recently received $3.5 million from the Empire State Stem Cell Board to establish a Western New York Stem Cell Culture and Analysis Center.
Programmed for Obesity

2/28/12

Mulchand Patel, PhD, is a specialist in nutritional biochemistry. He found that fetuses of obese mother rats were programmed in utero to develop obesity in adulthood, and was the first to show that this metabolic programming occurs in the fetal hypothalamus.
Copper and Iron Transport

8/31/11

Daniel Kosman, PhD, studies how organisms acquire and metabolize iron and copper, intrinsically toxic metals essential to cellular respiration and oxygen transport. One of his goals is to develop antifungal drugs to treat infections in humans.
Understanding Iron Metabolism

3/7/12

Michael Garrick, PhD, identified the first protein essential for normal intestinal iron absorption and the first mammalian iron transporter to be characterized at the molecular level. His work provides a major step forward in the understanding of iron metabolism.