Joydip Das, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Medicinal Chemistry
542 F Science and Research Building 2
Houston, TX 77204-5037
713-743-1708
713-743-1229 (fax)

Education
Ph.D.: Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay
Postdoctoral: Medical University of South Carolina, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Massachusetts General Hospital.

Academic/Research Interests:
Protein Kinase C (PKC) plays a central role in signal transduction, regulating divergent cellular functions by phosphorylation of target proteins such as ion channels. Aberrations in PKC signaling have been implicated in the development of multiple human diseases including several types of cancer, metabolic and cardiovascular complications of diabetes, central nervous system dysfunctions, neuronal degeneration and cardiovascular disorders and alcoholism. My research is directed to the following aspects of PKC.
1) Alcohol Binding site in PKC epsilon- The objective of this project is to find out the alcohol binding site in PKC epsilon to understand the molecular mechanism of alcohol actions.
2) Development of subtype specific PKC activators/inhibitors- Activators (diacylglycerols/phorbol esters) or the inhibitors act on more than one subtype of PKC making specific functional regulation difficult. The overall goal of this project is to develop subtype specific activators/inhibitors leading to therapeutics.

Chemical synthesis, mass spectrometry, X-ray crystallography and biochemical assays are used for this research.

Affiliations:
American Chemical Society
Protein Society
Research Society on Alcoholism
Biophysical Society
American Society for Photobiology