Press/News
Nicholas Patrick, a junior majoring in Computer Science and a member of the Donald Lab, is one of three Duke students selected for a Goldwater Scholarship in science, mathematics and engineering for the 2008-09 academic year. More »
An article on the Donald Lab's work in computational redesign of nature's molecular assembly lines appeared in the Spring 2008 issue of Duke's Department of Computer Science newsletter, Threads.
While numerous inhibitors of enzymatic activity have been developed, the development of inhibitors of protein-protein interactions has only recently come to the forefront as a viable approach. Allosteric inhibition of such protein-protein interactions presents a number of advantages, including not having to compete for binding with the partner protein. However, to date there are very few examples of such inhibitors. We have developed novel allosteric small-molecule inhibitors of the binding of RUNX1 to CBFβ, two proteins whose translocations play a critical role in the development of acute myeloid leukemia and acute lymphocytic leukemia. The results are reported in the cover article of Chemistry & Biology, (Cell Press, 2007) [More »].
Two of our papers on protein design were recommended reading "of outstanding interest" by SM Lippow & B Tidor. Progress in computational protein design. Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2007 Jul 17; Medline.
Bruce Donald gave the Inaugural Lecture, for
the MIT
Nanotechnology Public Lecture Series on April 19, 2007. (Announcement)
View the lecture.