Albert Berghuis
Professor and Chair, Department of Biochemistry; Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology
1993 - PhD, University of British Columbia
Structure-based Drug Design is a scientific approach towards drug discovery. The approach involves examining the detailed structure of a protein—often an enzyme—whose (mal-)functioning is responsible for a disease. This information can be used to design compounds that specifically interact with that protein, thereby correcting its functioning. Such compounds are, in principal, drugs against the disease.
The Berghuis Lab uses X-ray crystallography to obtain detailed structural information of proteins and is subsequently using this information for Structure-based Drug Design efforts. We are targeting bacterial and fungal infections, and antibiotic resistance.
Read more regarding the research in the Med e-News and interview in The Reporter.