Welcome!
Thank you for visiting the website for the Structural Biochemistry Laboratory led by Dr. Tom Huxford in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at San Diego State University. We hope that you will take some time to explore this site and learn about the research questions that we are currently addressing. Please send us an e-mail if you have any questions or comments regarding anything you read on this site.
Check out this new paper by Brian Maniaci, Matt Mealka, et al. that reports the design, synthesis, solution behavior, and x-ray crystallographic structural characterization of an engineered zinc ion-dependent heterodimeric protein!
Check out this new paper in eLife that reports how auto-phosphorylation of a key tyrosine residue within the IKK2 subunit, which was originally observed during x-ray crystallography studies, plays an intriguing role in directing specificity of phosphorylation toward its substrate IκBα!
Congratulations to Ana Kutchuashvili on being awarded the fifth annual Alison Huxford Memorial Fellowship for Graduate Student Research in Biochemistry and big thanks to all the family, friends, and former students who donated to make this fellowship possible!
Congratulations to Caden Unholz on graduating!
Congratulations to Helen Fenske on being selected for a CalTech WAVE Fellowship!
Check out this new paper by W. Suryajaya, Matt Mealka, et al. that reports hydrogen/deuterium exchange-mass spectrometry data that support a model that linear ubiquitin binding to the NEMO subunit of IKK primes the IKK2 activation segment for phosphorylation and consequent IKK activation!
Congratulations to Jorge Rodriguez on graduating!
Check out this new paper by Matt Mealka, et al. that appeared in the journal Nature Communications and shows how mutation of the enzyme Isocitrate Dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1) alters its activity such that it produces the potent oncometabolite 2-D-hydroxyglutarate!
Check out this new paper by Norm Zhu, Eric Rogers, et al. that appeared in the journal Genes & Development and shows how the transcriptional co-activator IκBζ selectively binds to NF-κB dimers that contain at least one p50 subunit, even the canonical p50:RelA heterodimer.
Congratulations to Ryne Holmberg on successfully defending his doctoral dissertation!
Congratulations to Josselyn Jacobo on being admitted to the Summer Research Opportunity Program at the University of Michigan!
Congratulations to Gabriela Contreras and Aaron Washam on graduating!
Check out this new paper by Norm Zhu, Matt Mealka, Shane Mitchel, et al. that shows how the NF-κB p50 subunit homodimer preferentially binds 11-base pair κB DNA targets over 12-base pair DNA targets, even though that necessarily induces complex asymmetry.
Congratulations to Aden Alemayhu and Marissa Balagtas on accepting admission to doctoral programs at Yale University and UCLA, respectively!
Congratulations to Matt Mealka on being awarded the fourth annual Alison Huxford Memorial Fellowship for Graduate Student Research in Biochemistry and big thanks to all the family, friends, and former students who donated to make this fellowship possible!
Check out this new paper by Ryne Holmberg, et al. reporting his work with scientists in the House Lab that shows how through the NF-κB RelB subunit, a cytokine named TWEAK promotes problematic behavior in ovarian cancer cells!
Congratulations to Sally Luong on being awarded the third annual Alison Huxford Memorial Fellowship for Graduate Student Research in Biochemistry and big thanks to all the family, friends, and former students who donated to make this fellowship possible!
Congratulations to Gabriel Miko Cando, Madison Cho, and Tom McDowell on graduating!
