Christopher D. Brown
3rd year graduate student
Chemistry
5th year of MSTP

EDUCATION

• B.S. 2004, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  Chemistry, Physiology

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2003-2005
  Advisor - Dr. John Katzenellenbogen
  Project - The lab's focus is on medicinal organic chemistry as it relates to the actions of estrogen and the estrogen receptor, Chris' project is focused on the synthesis of a class of compounds known as coactivator binding inhibitors.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

• We are working to synthesize chemical probes that will answer questions regarding the molecular mechanisms of glycosylating enzymes in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. These enzymes, which assemble the carbohydrate array in the cell wall, are unique to a small number of bacteria and are poorly understood. Revealing the molecular mechanisms governing glycosylations will broaden our understanding of the role of carbohydrates in biological systems and direct our ability to design small molecule inhibitors: The first step in developing new antibiotics.