​Research emphasis

Chemical Biology, Mechanistic Enzymology, Antimicrobial Drug Design & Discovery, Biocatalysis

​Research summary

The Strauss Lab's core research efforts are in the multidisciplinary field of Chemical Biology. We mainly focus on the chemistry and biology of the ubiquitous metabolic cofactor Coenzyme A, and on low molecular weight thiol-dependent redox biology. We also apply the expertise we gain in this manner to the design and development of new antimicrobial agents – especially those that target diseases relevant in the African health context, such as malaria and tuberculosis.

​Research description

Interests 

Research in the Strauss group is broadly focused on increasing our understanding of the enzymology of coenzyme A (CoA) and other medicinally-relevant low molecular weight thiols, and applying this knowledge in biocatalysis and antibiotic drug development. Our goal is to identify new drug targets in important human pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus, Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Plasmodium falciparum that exploit their dependence on these essential cofactors. 

Our research strategy focuses on elucidating and studying all aspects of the enzymes involved in the biosynthetic pathway of the thiol-containing cofactor, and applying this knowledge in the design of inhibitors of these enzymes as well as those that use the cofactor. Often such inhibitors are also analogues of the native cofactor, and therefore can be prepared biocatalytically by co-opting the natural biosynthetic enzymes. In some cases this occurs naturally as shown in the figure below for the natural product CJ-15,801, which uses this as part of its inhibition strategy.