University of Nebraska (Lincoln), Ph.D., Chemistry, 1987 University of Nebraska (Lincoln), B.A., Chemistry, 1981

Analytical Chemistry/Inorganic Chemistry/Organic Chemistry/Physical Chemistry/Biological Chemistry/Chemical Education/Computational/Theoretical Chemistry/Environmental/Atmospheric Chemistry/Materials Chemistry and Nanoscience

Our research focuses on protein structure and function and protein-protein interactions. We employ an approach combining modern analytical, biophysical and molecular biology techniques, with an emphasis on biomolecular NMR spectroscopy. Our core projects include the study of gene regulation and novel regulators of transcription initiation in bacteria, oxidative stress and calcium signaling, steroid hormone (estrogen) receptor activation, and regulation of biofilm formation and pathogenesis in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. These projects are important fundamentally, and they important biomedically with respect to antibiotic target development, oxidative stress and biological aging, and diseases such as breast cancer and cystic fibrosis.

Zhang, R. ; Hua, G. ; Urbauer, J. L. ; Adang, M. J. Synergistic and Inhibitory Effects of Aminopeptidase Peptides on Bacillus thuringiensis Cry11Ba Toxicity in the Mosquito Anopheles gambiae. Biochemistry 2010. Gilmore, J. M. ; Bieber Urbauer, R. J. ; Minakhin, L. ; Akoyev, V. ; Zolkiewski, M. ; Severinov, K. ; Urbauer, J. L. Determinants of affinity and activity of the anti-sigma factor AsiA. Biochemistry 2010, 49, 6143-54. Lee, H. ; Rivner, J. ; Urbauer, J. L. ; Gartil, N. ; Wicker, L. De-esterification pattern of Valencia orange pectinmethylesterases and characterization of modified pectins. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 2008, 88, 2102-2110.Slaughter, B. D. ; Urbauer, R. J. ; Urbauer, J. L. ; Johnson, C. K. Mechanism of calmodulin recognition of the binding domain of isoform 1b of the plasma membrane Ca(2+)-ATPase: kinetic pathway and effects of methionine oxidation. Biochemistry 2007, 46, 4045-54. Nemec, K. N. ; Pande, A. H. ; Qin, S. ; Urbauer, R. J. B. ; Tan, S. H. ; Moe, D. ; Tatulian, S. A. Structural and functional effects of tryptophans inserted into the membrane-binding and substrate-binding sites of human group IIA phospholipase A(2). Biochemistry 2006, 45, 12448-12460. Xiong, Y. ; Chen, B. ; Smallwood, H. S. ; Urbauer, R. J. ; Markille, L. M. ; Galeva, N. ; Williams, T. D. ; Squier, T. C. High-affinity and cooperative binding of oxidized calmodulin by methionine sulfoxide reductase. Biochemistry 2006, 45, 14642-54. Bieber Urbauer, R. J. ; Gilmore, J. M. ; Rosasco, S. E. ; Hattle, J. M. ; Cowley, A. B. ; Urbauer, J. L. Cloning, high yield overexpression, purification, and characterization of AlgH, a regulator of alginate biosynthesis in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Protein Expr Purif 2005, 43, 57-64. Urbauer, R. J. B. ; Gilmore, J. M. ; Rosasco, S. E. ; Hattle, J. M. ; Cowley, A. B. ; Urbauer, J. L. Cloning, high yield overexpression, purification, and characterization of AlgH, a regulator of alginate biosynthesis in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Protein Expression and Purification 2005, 43, 57-64. Cowley, A. B. ; Urbauer, R. J. ; Urbauer, J. L. 1H, 13C and 15N NMR assignments for AlgH, a putative transcriptional regulator from Pseudomonas aeruginosa. J Biomol NMR 2005, 33, 74. Slaughter, B. D. ; Unruh, J. R. ; Allen, M. W. ; Urbauer, R. J. B. ; Johnson, C. K. Conformational substates of calmodulin revealed by single-pair fluorescence resonance energy transfer: Influence of solution conditions and oxidative modification. Biochemistry 2005, 44, 3694-3707. Anbanandam, A. ; Bieber Urbauer, R. J. ; Bartlett, R. K. ; Smallwood, H. S. ; Squier, T. C. ; Urbauer, J. L. Mediating molecular recognition by methionine oxidation: conformational switching by oxidation of methionine in the carboxyl-terminal domain of calmodulin. Biochemistry 2005, 44, 9486-96. Yang, W. ; Wilkins, A. L. ; Ye, Y. ; Liu, Z. R. ; Li, S. Y. ; Urbauer, J. L. ; Hellinga, H. W. ; Kearney, A. ; van der Merwe, P. A. ; Yang, J. J. Design of a calcium-binding protein with desired structure in a cell adhesion molecule. J Am Chem Soc 2005, 127, 2085-93. Slaughter, B. D. ; Unruh, J. R. ; Price, E. S. ; Huynh, J. L. ; Urbauer, R. J. B. ; Johnson, C. K. Sampling unfolding intermediates in calmodulin by single-molecule spectroscopy. Journal of the American Chemical Society 2005, 127, 12107-12114.

Osborn, K. D. ; Zaidi, A. ; Urbauer, R. J. B. ; Michaelis, M. L. ; Johnson, C. K. Single-molecule characterization of the dynamics of calmodulin bound to oxidatively modified plasma-membrane Ca2+-ATPase. Biochemistry 2005, 44, 11074-11081.