Welcome to the Gelb Research Group
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University of Washington Department of Chemistry Box 351700 Seattle, WA 98195-1700 206-543-7142 Research Coordinator: Catherine Holliday 206-543-7968
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Research
Interests, History, and Awards
The Gelb group combines chemical and
molecular and cellular biochemistry techniques to study enzymatic process of
medical importance.
Michael H. Gelb studied chemistry and
biochemistry as an undergraduate at the University of California at Davis. His
Ph.D. studies with Stephen G. Sligar at Yale University led to a better
understanding of the catalytic mechanism of cytochrome P450. As an American
Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellow in the laboratory of the late Robert H.
Abeles at Brandeis University, Gelb studied a variety of mechanism-based
inactivators of serine proteases and developed fluorinated ketones as
tight-binding inhibitors of several classes of proteases. In 1985 Gelb became a
faculty member in the Departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the
University of Washington. Major breakthroughs in the group include the
development of methods to properly analyze the action of enzymes on membrane
surfaces, the discovery of protein prenylation (farnesylation and
geranylgeranylation) in mammalian cells (together with John A. Glomset), and
the development of Isotope-Coded Affinity Tags (ICAT reagents) for proteomic
applications (together with Ruedi Aebersold). His current research is in the
following areas at the interface of chemistry and biology:
- Structure, function, and regulation of interfacial enzymes including phospholipases A2.
- Structure-based design and combinatorial chemistry of inhibitors of drug targets from parasites that cause tropical diseases
- Biochemical studies of protein prenylation
- Multiplex analysis of enzymes of clinical significance and proteomics by mass spectrometry
He is the
Boris and Barbara L. Weinstein Endowed Chair in Chemistry
in
the Department of
Chemistry and Department of
Biochemistry at the University of Washington and is a member of graduate training programs in Biomolecular Structure
and Design and in Molecular and Cellular
Biology.
Gelb's awards and honors
include:
Repligen Award in the Chemistry of Biological Processes, ACS Division of Biological Chemistry (2018)
University Faculty Lecture Award, University of Washington (2017)
Boris & Barbara L. Weinstein Endowed Chair in Chemistry (2014)
Gustavus John Esselen Award, Harvard University (2013)
Fellow of the Washington Academy of Sciences (2012-)
Fellow of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science (2009-)
Kaplan Lecturer, Brandeis University (2009)
Harry and Catherine
Jaynne Boand Endowed Professor of Chemistry (2008-)
Plenary Lecturer,
BrazMedChem2008, Porto de Galinha, Brazil (2008)
National Institutes
of Health Merit Award (2007-)
Plenary Lecturer, Keystone Conference on
Drugs for Protozoan Paraistes, (2006)
Medicines for
Malaria Venture Project of the Year (2003)
University Keck Lecturer, University of Toronto (2002)
Pfizer Award in Enzyme
Chemistry, given by the
Division of Biological Chemistry of the American Chemical Society (1993)
ICI Pharmaceuticals
Award for Excellence in Chemistry (now given by AstraZeneca) (1993)
Alfred P. Sloan Fellow (1990-92)
Merck New Faculty Development Award
(1986-90)
American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellow
(1983-85)
Professional Activity:
His newborn screening technology is being commercially developed by Perkin Elmer. An FDA-approved assay kit is being developed and went on the market in 2016.
More than 40 new patents in the past 5 years on newborn screening technology.
2002-2006 NIH
Physical Biochemistry Study Section Member
2001-2006 Editorial Advisory Board: Journal of Biological Chemistry
2000 Chair,
American Chemical Society Div. of Biological Chemistry Nominating Committee
2000 NIH
Bioorganic and Natural Products Study Section Member
1996-2000 NIH
Biochemistry Study Section Member
1989 NIH
Pharmacology Study Section Member
1998- Editorial
Board: Current Opinion in Chemical
Biology
1997 Co-Chair,
Gordon Research Conference, Co-Enzymes and Metabolic Pathways
1997 NIH
Physical Biochemistry Study Section Member
1991-present Co-Organizer, Volcano Conference in Bioorganic Chemistry
Organizations:
Current Scientific Advisory Boards: Genzyme Corp., LinkMedicine Corp.
Gelb's pastimes include Surfing and playing classical guitar.
Please feel free to contact Professor Gelb if you have any questions about the program or if you want to discuss research areas in more detail.
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Last updated 1/8/2019