Chemical Biology of Infectious Disease
The Center for Chemical Biology of Infectious Disease is an NIH Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE). The CBID Center is focused on coalescing and supporting the diversity of outstanding scientists at the University of Kansas-Lawrence and KU Medical Center with their innovative approaches to better understand and potentially treat the urgent and emerging public health threats associated with infectious diseases and anti-microbial resistance. The CBID Center has over 60 affiliated scientists from academic units in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, School of Pharmacy, School of Engineering, and School of Medicine.
Our Goals
The goals of the CBID are to mentor and support the success of junior investigators, develop state-of-the-art research infrastructure and effective services that enhance research capabilities associated with chemical biology and infectious diseases, and to create a robust and engaged community of scientists and provides programmatic functions that facilitates multi-disciplinary collaborations and progression of research to better address the urgent and growing public health threat of infectious diseases and anti-microbial resistance.
What We Do
Chemical biology is the focus of our efforts because it entails the discovery, development, and application of chemical entities able to probe and modulate critical biologic processes related to infectious agents and microbial pathogenesis. This research requires multi-disciplinary expertise and approaches which lead to an enhanced understanding of microbial pathogenesis and identification of potential therapeutic targets and strategies. Appropriate validation of such targets employs advanced experimental model systems, including animals and human surrogate systems, along with pharmaceutical development of chemical components to provide promising leads for subsequent pre-clinical considerations.
Our CBID Center will strengthen infrastructure and enable scientists throughout the biomedical research community in the State of Kansas. The CBID Center capitalizes on existing strengths and resources, including those associated with previous CoBRE programs in cancer chemotherapy and protein-structure and function, while addressing critical gaps that have limited the ability of researchers at the University of Kansas (KU) and associated institutions to apply these tools to the study of infectious disease targets.
The CBID Center is led by Principal Investigator, Dr. Scott Hefty, Professor and Chair of the Department of Molecular Biosciences. Dr. Hefty has over 25 years’ experience as a molecular microbiologist with a research focus on Chlamydia. He is joined by Dr. Jon Tunge, Professor of Chemistry, as co-investigator of the overall center. Professor Tunge has over 25 years of experience in organic chemistry research. In addition to the scientific expertise, both investigators have extensive experience with CoBRE administration and associated core facilities at KU.
CORE LABORATORIES
Infectious Disease Assay Development Core
Computational Chemical Biology Core
Synthetic Chemical Biology Core
Flow Cytometry Core
Latest News
Research reported on this website is supported by an Institutional Development Award (IDeA) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number P20GM113117. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. It is a federal requirement (Stevens Amendment) to cite CBID Center (P20GM113117) contributions within the acknowledgement of any manuscript or publication.