Rene was the third student to join the
Goodwin laboratory from the Republic of Cameroon. He began his
studies at Auburn University in the Fall of 2013, and joined the
lab in January 2014. Rene worked on a new research project
for our group. In collaboration with Dr. Angela Calderon in the
Harrison School of Pharmacy, we are evaluating shikimate kinase
from Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MtSK) as a target
for the development of new leads for antitubercular agents. Rene
was instrumental in deciphering the mechanisms of inhibition of MtSK
by marine natural products ranging from ilimaquinone to
6-cyclohexamido-manzamine A using LC-MS-based kinetic methods.
Rene also used site-directed mutagenesis for mechanistically
targeted intrinsic protein fluorescence. He generated several
tryptophan substitution variants of MtSK to investigate
mechanisms of catalysis and as well as mechanisms of inhibition by
candidate inhibitors identified from marine natural products. The
long-term goal of this work is to produce a panel of MtSK
variants which will facilitate high throughput screening of
candidate inhibitors by fluorescence techniques. On June 4,
2018, Rene successfully defended his dissertation entitled Transition
from classical methods to new strategies: Mechanistic
evaluation of inhibitors against Mycobacterium tuberculosis
shikimate kinase. Starting Fall 2018, Rene joined the
tenure-track faculty of the Department of Chemistry and
Biochemistry at East Stroudsburg University in East Stroudsburg,
PA. He has recently been promoted to Associate Professor with
tenure at ESU.
Publications and Abstracts
Simithy,
J., Fuanta, N. R., Alturki, M., Hobrath, J. V., Wahba, A. E.,
Pina, I., Rath, J., Hamann, M. T., DeRuiter, J., Goodwin, D. C.,
and Calderon, A. I. 2018. "Slow-binding inhibition of Mycobacterium
tuberculosis shikimate kinase by manzamine alkaloids" Biochemistry
52, 4923 - 4933.
Simithy, J., Fuanta, N. R., Kochanowska-Karamayan, A., Hobrath,
J. V., Hamann, M. T., Goodwin, D. C., and Calderon, A. I. 2018.
"Mechanism of irreversible inhibition of Mycobacterium
tuberculosis shikimate kinase by ilimaquinone" Biochim.
Biophys. Acta. 1866, 731 - 739.
Alturki, M. S., Fuanta, N. R., Jarrard, M. A., Hobrath, J. V.,
Goodwin, D. C., Rants'o, T. A., and Calderon, A. I. 2018. A
multifaceted approach to identify non-specific enzyme
inhibition: Application to Mycobacterium tuberculosis
shikimate kinase. Bioorg. Medicin. Chem. Lett. 28, 802
- 808.
Fuanta, N. R., Simithy, J., Gill, G., Kollhoff, A., Childers,
T., Calderon, A. I., and Goodwin D. 2016. Towards
high-throughput drug screening and mechanistic evaluation of
tuberculosis shikimate kinase; Intrinsic protein fluorescence. National Organization for
the Professional Advancement of Black Chemist and Chemical
Engineers (NOBCChE), Raleigh, NC (11/16
).
Fuanta,
N.
R., Simithy, J., Gill, G., Kollhoff, A., Childers, T., Calderon,
A. I., and Goodwin D. 2016. Targeted intrinsic protein
fluorescence, an approach towards high-throughput drug screening
and mechanistic evaluation of tuberculosis shikimate kinase. Southeast Meeting of
American Chemical Society (SERMACS), Columbia, SC (10/16).
Alturki,
M. S., Jarrad, M. A., Fuanta, N. R., Goodwin, D. C., and
Calderon, A. I. 2016. LC-MS based approach to characterize
non-specific binding inhibitors to Mycobacterium
tuberculosis shikimate kinase (MtSK). 64th
American Society for Mass Spectrometry National Conference on
Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics, San Antonio, TX. (6/5/16
McCarty, S.E.; Schellenberger, A.; Goodwin, D.C.; Fuanta, N.R.;
Tekwani, B.L.; Calderon, A.I. 2015. Plasmodium
falciparum thioredoxin reductase (PfTrxR) and its role as a
target for new antimalarial discovery. Molecules 20, 11459
- 11473.
Kudalkar, S. N., Njuma, O. J., Li, Y., Muldowney, M., Fuanta, N.
R., and Goodwin, D. C. 2015. A role for catalase-peroxidase
large loop 2 revealed by deletion mutagenesis: Control of active
site water and ferric enzyme reactivity. Biochemistry 54,
1648 - 1662.
Fuanta, N. R., Simithy, J., Gill, G., Kollhoff, A., Childers, T.,
Calderon, A. I., and Goodwin D. 2015. Site-directed incorporation
of intrinsic fluorescence in shikimate kinase to evaluate
catalysis and inhibition. 6th Annual Southeast Enzymes Conference,
Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA (4/11/15).