Biochemistry and Structural Biology  http://www.gbs.uab.edu  http://www.uab.edu/graduate

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Graduate Biomedical Sciences Affiliations
Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics Program 
Biochemistry and Structural Biology 
Cell, Molecular, & Developmental Biology 
Cellular and Molecular Biology Program 
Integrative Biomedical Sciences 
Pathobiology and Molecular Medicine 

Biographical Sketch 
Dr. DeLucas received both his undergraduate and graduate training at UAB before taking a faculty position in the School of Optometry. He currently serves as the Director of the Center for Structural Biology (formerly called the Center for Biophysical Sciences and Engineering) with a primary appointment in the Department of Optometry. He holds secondary appointments in the Departments of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Microbiology. Dr. DeLucas flew as a payload specialist on the United States Microgravity Laboratory-1 flight, Mission STS-50, in June 1992 after which he served as the NASA Chief Scientist for the International Space Station until 1995. His work is currently funded through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, NASA and various pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. He is currently investigating the crystallization and structure determination of several membrane proteins including the cystic fibrosis trans-membrane regulator protein (CFTR), human growth hormone receptor, syndecan-1 (a membrane protein that interacts with integrins and is implicated in tumor metastasis), the chemokine receptor CCR-1 and the epithelial sodium channel (ENaC). In addition, he is involved in the structure-based design of novel inhibitors for the deubiquinating protein USP2a, implicated in prostate cancer. Dr. DeLucas also has a long history developing and commercializing novel biotechnology tools including nano-crystallization systems, automated crystal imaging and analysis and a high-throughput protein solubilization system.

Society Memberships
Organization Name Position Held Org Link
Alabama Optometric Association  Member   
American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists  Member   
American Chemical Society  Member   
American Crystallographic Association  Member   
Biotechnology Association of Alabama  Member   
Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO)  Member   
 

Research/Clinical Interest
Title
Protein Crystallography/Structure-based Drug Design/Protein Crystal Growth
Description
My work involves the determination of protein structures of biological interest. For those proteins implicated in various diseases, the structure information is used to design pharmaceutical compounds that may serve as useful clinical drugs for the treatment of complications associated with these diseases. A second aspect of my research involves understanding fundamental mechanisms for protein crystal growth processes and designing new crystallization systems that may enhance the quality of macromolecular crystals. In addition, my lab is involved in the development of a novel technology to solubilize and stabilize aqueous and membrane proteins.

Selected Publications 
Johnson DH, Bidez MW, DeLucas LJ, “Hazard Analysis and Risk Assessment in the Development of Biomedical Drug Formulation Equipment”, Ann Biomedical Eng., 2011, PMID: 22068884

Gabrielson M, Nagy LA, DeLucas LJ, Cogdell RJ, “Self-Interaction Chromatography as a Tool for Optimizing Conditions for Membrane Protein Crystallization”, Acta Crystallogr D Biol Crystallogr., 2010, Jan; 66(Pt 1):44-50.

Johnson DH, Parupudi A, Wilson WW, DeLucas LJ, “High-Throughput Self-Interaction Chromatography: Applications in Protein Formulation Prediction,” Pharmaceutical Research, 2009, 26(2):296-305.

Wilson WW, Henry C, Johnson, DH, and DeLucas LJ, Membrane Protein Crystallization Tools to Enhance Membrane Protein Crystallization, Associated Press, edited by DeLucas LJ., 2009, Vol. 63.

Lu S, Smith CD, Yang Z, Pruett PS, Nagy L, McCombs D, DeLucas LJ, Brouillette WJ, Brouillette CG “Structure of nicotinic acid mononucleotide adenylytransferase from Bacillus anthracis,” Acta Cryst F, 2008, 893-898. PMCID: PMC2564882

DeLucas LJ, Bray TL, Nagy LA, McCombs D, Chernov N, Hamrick D, Cosenza L, Belgovskiy A, Stoops B, and Chait A, “Efficient Protein Crystallization”, J. Structural Biology, 2003, 142:188-206.

DeLucas LJ, Brouillette CG, McDonald S. and Ramnarayan K, “Tools for Structural Genomics: Accelerating the Structure Pipeline”, Drug Discovery World, 2004 summer: 65-72.

DeLucas LJ, Hamrick D, Cosenza L, Nagy L, McCombs D, Bray T and Chait A, “Protein Crystallization: Virtual Screening and Optimization”, 2005, Progress in Biophys. & Mol. Biol., 88:285-309.

McDonald HM, Pruett PS, Deivanayagam C, Protasevich II, Carson WM, Delucas LJ, Brouillette WJ, Brouillette CG, ”Structural adaptation of an interacting non-native C-terminal helical extension revealed in the crystal structure of NAD(+) synthetase from Bacillus anthracis”, Acta Crystallogr D Biol Crystallogr., 2007, Aug; 63(Pt 8):891-905.

Wu Y, McCombs D, Nagy L, DeLucas LJ, Sha B. “Preliminary X-ray crystallographic studies of yeast mitochondrial protein Tom70p”, Acta Crystallograph Sect F, Struct Biol Cryst Commun., 2006, Mar 1;62(Pt 3):265-267. PMCID: PMC2197198

Josyula R, Jin Z, McCombs D, DeLucas LJ, Sha B. “Preliminary crystallographic studies of yeast mitochondrial peripheral membrane protein Tim44p”, Acta Crystallograph Sect F, Struct Biol Cryst Commun., 2006, Feb 1;62(Pt 2):172-174. PMCID: PMC2150958
 		  
 

Keywords
structural biology, drug design, biotechnology