A major part of my research has always been the training of undergraduate and graduate students. To accomplish this goal, my research interests have diverged into several branches. My early work focused on the isolation and development of protease inhibitors. Later, using molecular modeling, I designed protease inhibitors with structures similar to natural inhibitors and synthesized them. All of the protease inhibitors were biochemically assayed for their inhibition of a number of biologically important enzymes. Later I saw an opportunity to gain funding for undergraduate research from NASA, through the development and synthesis of conductive polymers that prevent the build-up of static electricity and corrosion. I have in the past received funding from both NASA and NSF to develop conductive polymers. These projects involve materials synthesis as well as the thermal-mechanical characterization of the new materials. I also received funding from the NSF (RUI program) to synthesize 13C labeled compounds to be utilized in an equilibrium study followed by 13C NMR. My recent research efforts have been in the design and testing of cathepsin inhibitors. In all I have had a total of five grants funded from NIH-National Cancer Institute for the development of cathepsin inhibitors. I also frequently serve on NSF and NIH review panels to score grant applications.
