Michael Blaber | Homepage

Associate Professor of Biomedical Sciences

Research Interests

Main Focus

Research in the Blaber Laboratory is interdisciplinary and includes aspects of protein chemistry, biophysics, structural biology and enzymology; we are fundamentally a protein chemistry laboratory. The training in the lab is in high demand in both academia and industry, and graduates of the lab have gone on to research positions at the NIH, Pfizer, Amgen, and Coulter-Beckman. Specific proteins being studied include human acidic fibroblast growth factor (FGF1), and the human kallikrein family. We have utilized FGF1 as a model system to understand protein structure, folding and stability for many years; however, this protein is also a potent angiogenic factor with application in "angiogenic therapy" to treat ischemia. The human kallikreins are a novel family of serine proteases implicated in a variety of cancers and neurodegenerative diseases; specific inhibition of select members of this family may prove useful in novel treatment of such diseases.

Human Acidic Fibroblast Growth Factor-1

Our biophysical studies of FGF1 have also provided important insights into protein folding and mechanisms of protein evolution - involving gene duplication and fusion events to produce complex architectures from simpler structural motifs. Students have an opportunity to participate in both fundamental and applied research.

Human Kallikreins

We are currently focused upon understanding the regulation of action of the human kallikreins - i.e. how they are activated, how they are inhibited, and what are the targets of their activity. We have also solved the x-ray structures of human kallikreins 1 and 6 - the only human kallikreins for which structural data is available. In collaboration with Dyax Corp. we are developing IgG-based specific inhibitors of particular kallikreins for therapeutic treatment of inflammatory demyelination.

Teaching

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