Contact:

Office: Dobo 249 [map]
Voice: (910) 962-7427
FAX: (910) 962-3013
E-mail: halkidesc

Office Hours:

by appointment

Professional History: VITA and Publications

Research Summary

Our lab studies signal transduction proteins that are reversibly phosphorylated.  Our main focus is CheY, which changes the rotation of bacterial flagellar motors.  We chemically modify CheY to mimic phosphorylation, and our goal is to crystallize phosphono-CheY alone and in complexes with other proteins.  We have also modified VHR protein phosphatase to mimic the intermediate cysteinyl phosphate.  We have synthesized analogs of aspartyl phosphate, including phosphonates, to inhibit aspartate semialdehyde dehydrogenase.  We have described a way to teach Michaelis-Menten kinetics through a computer tutorial.  We are examining current ways to purify biodiesel.

Research Area: Biochemistry

Representative Publications

Christopher J. Halkides, Cory J. Bottone, Eric S. Casper, R. Matthew Haas, and Kenneth McAdams, “Synthesis of a stable analog of the phosphorylated form of CheY:  Phosphono-CheY” Methods in Enzymology, 422, 338 (2007).

David R. Weyna, David Loveless, Cory Bottone, Nathan Hifko, and Christopher J. Halkides, “Synthesis of Benzyl Diisopropyl 5-Phosphonopentanoate and 5-Phosphonopentanoic Acid:  An Analog of Succinyl Phosphate” Phosphorus, Sulfur, and Silicon 182, 563-567 (2007).

Representative Awards and Grants

National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellow

National Science Foundation Predoctoral Fellow

 “Complexes of Phosphono-CheY with Peptides,” 2001.  National Institutes of Health, Academic Research Enhancement Award, $100,000, April 2003-June 2007.