Contact Information:

office 1312N (tel 212-650-3095), lab 1310N (tel 212-772-5339), dept fax 212-772-5332, email akawamur@hunter.cuny.edu, group webpage AK Group Homepage

Education:

B.S. The University of Tokyo, Ph.D. Columbia University, Postdoc The Scripps Research Institute

Research Summary: 

Currently we are working on two research programs, namely, natural products chemistry and chemical proteomics.

Natural Products: Long-known natural products with plain chemical structures can surprise us with remarkable biological activities. In order to uncover hidden potential of natural products, we established a screening protocol called "Genomic Screening", which examines the biological activity of natural products from a new angle. Genomic screening indeed has been successfully employed to discover previously overlooked biological activities of natural products. Our current focus is the application of Genomic Screening to immunostimulatory herbal medicine.

Chemical Proteomics: Adenine-binding proteins (ABPs), which include kinases and ATPases, play central role in various physiological and pathological processes. In this research program, we develop various molecular tools that can selectively tag ABPs in the presence of many other proteins. Such molecules can be used to gain mechanistic insights into ABPs in cellular and physiological contexts.

Selected Publications

Kawamura, A., Hindi, S., Mihai, D.M., James, L., Aminova, O., " Binding is not enough: Flexibility is needed for photocrosslinking of Lck kinase by benzophenone photoligands." Bioorg. Med. Chem. 2008, 16, 8824-8829.

Kawamura, A., Iacovidou, M., Takaoka, A., Soll, C.E., Blumenstein, M., "A polyacetylene compound from herbal medicine regulates genes associated with thrombosis in endothelial cells." Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 2007, 17, 6879-6882.

Hindi, S., Deng, H., James, L., Kawamura, A., "Selective photolabeling of lck kinase in complex proteome" Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 2006, 16, 5625-5628.

Kawamura, A., Brekman, A., Grigoryev, Y., Hasson, T. H., Takaoka, A., Wolfe, S, Soll, C. E. "Rediscovery of natural products using genomic tools" Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 2006, 16, 2846-2849.

Kawamura, A. Hindi, S. "Protein Fishing with Chiral Molecular Baits" Chirality 2005, 17, 332-337.