Choi Research Group
Research
The primary research goal in the Choi Laboratory is to develop specific, target-directed therapeutic candidates for human diseases. This goal will be accomplished by applying a multidisciplinary approach that includes organic synthesis, medicinal chemistry, chemical biology, and computer-aided drug design techniques. Our initial research projects include:
Our long-term research goal is to develop therapeutic candidates and specific chemical probes for allosteric kinase modulators, selective MMP inhibitors, and isoform-specific kinase inhibitors. Our academic goal is to train next-generation scientists in synthetic medicinal chemistry, computer-aided molecular design, and drug discovery. Our research projects will provide undergraduate and graduate students with basic skills and knowledge of organic synthesis and instruments such as solid-phase peptide synthesis, solution-phase multi-step synthesis, heterocyclic chemistry, microwave-assisted reaction, liquid or gas chromatography, NMR, and Mass Spectroscopy. Students will also learn hands-on experience of molecular modeling programs for the design of drug-like compounds such as Glide (docking), Prime (homology modeling), Bioluminate (protein modeling), KNIME (cheminformatics), Amber (molecular dynamics), Gaussian (quantum mechanics), Autodock (docking), and Pymol/VMD (visualization). Furthermore, students will have opportunities to perform team-oriented research projects in collaboration with biologists in medical schools and biomedical research institutes. Finally, students will be exposed to the latest topics in drug discovery and biomedical research as they conduct research in our laboratory.