Faculty Highlights
Min Chen and Rachid Skouta Receive Manning/IALS Innovation Awards
The UMass Amherst Institute for Applied Life Sciences (IALS) selected six campus research teams to receive the fifth annual Manning/IALS Innovation Awards. Professor Min Chen and Professor Rachid Skouta's research projects, which were selected from a highly competive group of applicants, will receive seed funding of up to $100,000. The
Manning/IALS Innovation Program, established by UMass alumnus Paul Manning '77, and his wife Diane, offers collaborative support for commercialization efforts including business training, the protection of intellectual property, access to industry partners, contracting and mentorship resources.
Professor Chen's Innovation Award will fund groundbreaking research at SkyRayBio, with seed money dedicated to the project "Development of a Nanopore Platform for Selective Screening of Allosteric Inhibitors Against Protein Kinases." The mission of SkyRayBio is to create innovative opportunities and tools in the field of medical diagnostics, drug discovery and personalized precision medicine. Currently, drug screening, a crucial step in the drug discovery process, is limited to large pharmaceutical companies and institutions with well-equipped central facilities. SkyRayBio aims to address this limitation by developing cost-effective technology based on nanopore tweezers, allowing drug screening to be conducted on a massive scale within standard laboratory settings. The nanopore tweezer technology has the transformative potential to revolutionize drug screening, significantly advancing drug discovery and precision medicine. By eliminating the limitations that currently restrict drug discovery to large pharmaceutical companies and high-end research facilities, the technology will open doors for smaller players to enter the field. Similar to how low-cost next-generation sequencing technology revolutionized genomic sequencing, it is anticipated that the affordable $1K drug screening platform at SkyRayBio will greatly accelerate the pace of drug discovery.
The Skouta Lab (Newco/Licensing) will research "Novel Ferroptosis Inducer Drug Candidate to Target RAS-Positive Tumors." Lung cancer, particularly non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), is the leading cause of cancer death in the US, with a five-year survival rate of only 16% due to drug resistance. Traditional treatments often fail because of resistance to caspase-dependent apoptosis. Skouta's lab will focus on ferroptosis, a cell death mechanism that circumvents these resistance issues and precisely targets cancer cells. The grant will support their exploration of a chemical that induces ferroptosis, potentially leading to more effective treatments.
Skouta's team has recently published a patent on mapping the ferroptosis pathway using small molecules, underscoring their innovative approach and leadership in this cutting-edge research area.
Jianhan Chen Lab's New Simulation Tool Will Help Scientists Understand Certain Disease Processes
The Chen team has made a major advance toward modeling and understanding how intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) undergo spontaneous phase separation, an important mechanism of subcellular organization that underlies numerous biological functions and human diseases.
IDPs play crucial roles in cancer, neurodegenerative disorders and infectious diseases. They make up about one-third of proteins that human bodies produce, and two-thirds of cancer-associated proteins contain large, disordered segments or domains. Identifying the hidden features crucial to the functioning and self-assembly of IDPs will help researchers understand what goes awry with these features when diseases occur.
In a paper published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, senior author Professor Jianhan Chen describes a novel way to simulate phase separations mediated by IDPs, an important process that has been difficult to study and describe. “Phase separation is a really well-known phenomenon in polymer physics, but what people did not know until about 15 years ago was that this is also a really common phenomenon in biology,” Chen explains. “You can look at phase separation with a microscope, but to understand this phenomenon at the molecular level is very difficult. “In the past five or 10 years, people have started to discover that many of these disordered proteins can drive phase separation, including numerous important ones involved in cancer and neurodegenerative disorders.”
The new paper, based on research in Chen’s computational biophysics and biomaterials lab, constitutes one chapter of lead author Yumeng Zhang’s PhD dissertation. Another key contributor is Shanlong Li, a postdoctoral research associate in Chen’s lab.
Chen’s lab developed an accurate, GPU-accelerated hybrid resolution (HyRes) force field for simulating phase separations mediated by IDPs. This model is unique in its ability to accurately describe peptide backbone interactions and transient secondary structures, while being computationally efficient enough to model liquid-liquid phase separation. This new model fills a critical gap in the existing capability in computer simulation of IDP phase separation. Chen and his team created HyRes simulations to demonstrate for the first time what governs the condensate stability of two important IDPs.
Chen says. “We demonstrated that this model is accurate enough to start looking at the impacts of even a single mutation or residual structures in the phase separation. Important biological processes are believed to occur through phase separation. So, if we can understand better what controls this process, that knowledge will be really powerful, if not essential, for us to think about controlling phase separation for various scientific and engineering purposes. This will help us understand the type of intervention that will be required to achieve therapeutic effects.”
The researchers’ HyRes-GPU provides an innovative simulation tool for studying the molecular mechanisms of phase separation. The ultimate goal is to develop therapeutic strategies in the treatment of diseases associated with disordered proteins.
Farkas Named UMass ADVANCE Faculty Fellow
Professor Michelle Farkas was selected as one of the 49 faculty members in the 2023-24 cohort of ADVANCE Faculty Fellows at UMass Amherst. Farkas will collaborate with UMass ADVANCE to advance equity initiatives across the university.
In her role as a Faculty Fellow, Professor Farkas will provide feedback and recommendations to enhance ADVANCE programming. She will serve as a liaison between ADVANCE and her department. Farkas is also the DEI Committee Chair for the Department of Chemistry.
UMass ADVANCE's commitment to understanding and addressing systemic inequalities aligns with this year's theme of "Equitable Faculty Evaluation Practices." Through research, programming, and collaboration, ADVANCE aims to create a fairer, more diverse, and inclusive campus environment.
Lin Receives Young Investigator Award
Professor Zhou Lin was honored with a Young Investigator Award at the 63rd Sanibel Symposium, an international conference in quantum chemistry hosted by the University of Florida Quantum Theory Project. The award commends the outstanding independent achievements of young faculty members in the field of quantum chemistry. Zhou's outstanding contribution, titled "First-Principles and Machine-Learned Electronic Structures for Emergent Materials," earned her this recognition.
Lin Research Featured on Journal Cover
The Lin Group's paper, "Accurate Electronic and Optical Properties of Organic Doublet Radicals Using Machine Learned Range-Separated Functionals," was chosen as the Front Cover feature for The Journal of Physical Chemistry A. Their groundbreaking work introduces ML-ωPBE, a machine-learned density functional tailored for organic semiconducting radicals, that exhibits remarkable predictive capabilities for electronic structures and optical properties.
Rotello Research Highly Cited
Distinguished Professor Vincent Rotello was once again among the world's most highly citied researchers. He was one of a dozen faculty from UMass Amherst to have been recognized in 2023. This recognition illustrates the university's excellence across a diverse array of disciplines and highlights their impactful contributions. This year’s highly cited researchers span 67 countries or regions and represent a diverse range of research fields in the sciences and social sciences with over one third being from the US. “The Highly Cited Researchers list identifies and celebrates exceptional individual researchers at UMass Amherst whose significant and broad influence in their fields translates to impact in their research community,” says David Pendlebury, head of research analysis at the Institute for Scientific Information at Clarivate. “Their contributions resonate far beyond their individual achievements, strengthening the foundation of excellence and innovation in research.”
Thayumanavan Develops Liver-Targeting Drug That Reverses Obesity, Lowers Cholesterol In Mice
Professor S. Thai Thayumanavan has used a nanogel-based carrier designed in his lab to deliver a drug exclusively to the liver of obese mice, effectively reversing their diet-induced disease. “The treated mice completely lost their gained weight, and we did not see any untoward side effects,” says Thayumanavan. “There is a significant amount of development work to be conducted between mice and humans, but we are hoping it will eventually become a drug."
One of the primary goals is figuring out how to get the right drug to the right place in the body by creating novel delivery platforms for small and large molecules. Thyromimetics, or drugs that mimic synthetic thyroid hormone, have been considered as a potential way to tackle the problem of obesity, type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) and other metabolic conditions. Targeted therapy is key, however.
“We came up with a very simple approach, using our unique invention – nanogels that we can direct selectively to different targets, which we call IntelliGels,” Thayumanavan says. “They were custom-designed for hepatocyte delivery in the liver.”
After five weeks of daily treatment, the mice returned to a normal weight – even as their high-fat diet continued. The mice also saw their cholesterol levels drop and their liver inflammation resolve. “We found that we are activating the reverse cholesterol transport pathway, which lowers cholesterol. We believe that activation of fat oxidation and an increase in metabolic rate are causing the loss in weight, but more work needs to be done to prove that point,” Thayumanavan says. “The drug-encapsulated nanogels open up the possibility for nanoparticle-mediated pharmaceutical strategies for other liver-based diseases.”
Thompson Elected President of Biophysical Society
Professor Lynmarie Thompson's election as President of the Biophysical Society (BPS) marks a milestone for both her and the society. She assumed the role of President-elect at the 2024 Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and will transition to President during the 2025 Annual Meeting in Los Angeles, California. Her election speaks to her expertise and leadership within the field of biophysics.
“The Biophysical Society’s mission is built around the goals of promoting and disseminating scientific research at the interface of the physical and life sciences and building scientific careers and communities. I am honored to have this opportunity to help lead the Society in this important work,” said Thompson. “We are both witnesses to and participants in an amazing period of rapidly accelerating advances in science – critical science for both the preservation of life and the planet. Together, we can work to optimize the synergy between scientific researcher and the Society to further accelerate and advance the beneficial impacts of biophysics.”
You Receives CNS Outstanding Researcher Award
Associate Professor Mingxu You received the CNS Outstanding Research Award (early/mid-career) in recognition of his development and application of RNA/DNA nanotechnology for bioanalysis. He leverages the programmability and biocompatibility of nucleic acid structures to construct both genetically encoded RNA devices inside living cells and synthetic DNA sensors on live cell membranes. These DNA/RNA structures are capable of measurements that previously were extremely difficult or impossible, including determining mechanical forces between and within cells, the flux of molecules associated with antibiotic resistance in bacteria, multiplexed RNA imaging in live cells, and dynamic lipid-protein interactions in cell membranes. The versatility of nucleic acid chemistry and functional moieties, together with the precise in situ production of sensors have allowed his approaches to have incredibly broad applications. His awards include a Sloan Research Fellowship, Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, and a Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Award.