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Faculty Detail     Name LAWRENCE J DELUCAS   Campus Address CBSE 206 Zip 4400 Phone 205-934-5329 E-mail duke2@uab.edu Other websites

Faculty Appointment(s) Appointment Type Department Division Rank Secondary  Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics  Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics Professor Secondary  Cell, Developmntl, & Integrative Biology  Cell, Developmntl, & Integrative Biology Professor Center  Arthritis & Musculoskeletal Diseases Center  Arthritis & Musculoskeletal Diseases Center Center  Center for AIDS Research  Center for AIDS Research Center  Center for Metabolic Bone Disease  Center for Metabolic Bone Disease Center  Comprehensive Cancer Center  Comprehensive Cancer Center Center  Cystic Fibrosis Research Center  Cystic Fibrosis Research Center Center  Medicine  Gene Therapy Center

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  Publication PUBMEDID 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

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