B.S., Chemistry, Villanova University , 2001; Research under Professor Eduard Casillas M.S., Princeton University, 2003 with Professor Daniel E. Kahne Ph.D., Chemistry, Harvard University, 2006 with Professor Daniel E. Kahne Thesis Title: Synthesis and Evaluation of Glycopeptide Antibiotics that Overcome Resistance Cancer Research Institute Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital, 2006-2011 with Professor Erin K. O'Shea and Professor Daniel K. Podolsky

The Grimes Group is interested in questions at the interface of chemistry and biology. Our lab uses carbohydrate synthesis, biochemistry, molecular biology and bacterial engineering to investigate activation of the human innate immune system. Our work has implications for understanding inflammatory bowel disease and other human diseases.

Mohanan, V. & Grimes, C. L. The Molecular chaperone Hsp70 binds to and stabilizes Nod2, an important protein involved in Crohn's disease. The Journal of biological chemistry, doi:10.1074/jbc.M114.557686 (2014).

Ariyananda Lde Z, Melnyk JE, O'Shea EK. The Innate Immune Protein Nod2 Binds Directly to MDP, a Bacterial Cell Wall Fragment. J Am Chem Soc. 2012 Aug 22;134(33):13535-7. Epub 2012 Aug 13.

Grimes, C.L., Podolsky, D.K., O’Shea, E.K., Synthesis of Biologically Active Biotinylated Muramyl Dipeptides, Bioorg Med Chem Lett., 2010. 20(20): p. 6061-3.

Hu, Y., Al-Mestarihi, A., Grimes, C.L., Kahne, D., and Bachmann, B.O., A unifying nitrososynthase involved in nitrosugar biosynthesis. J Am Chem Soc, 2008. 130(47): p. 15756-7.

Leimkuhler, C., Fridman, M., Lupoli, T., Walker, S., Walsh, C.T., and Kahne, D., Characterization of rhodosaminyl transfer by the AknS/AknT glycosylation complex and its use in reconstituting the biosynthetic pathway of aclacinomycin A. J Am Chem Soc, 2007. 129(34): p. 10546-50.

Howard-Jones, A.R., Kruger, R.G., Lu, W., Tao, J., Leimkuhler, C., Kahne, D., and Walsh, C.T., Kinetic analysis of teicoplanin glycosyltransferases and acyltransferase reveal ordered tailoring of aglycone scaffold to reconstitute mature teicoplanin. J Am Chem Soc, 2007. 129(33): p. 10082-3. link to pubmed

Adachi, M., Zhang, Y., Leimkuhler, C., Sun, B., LaTour, J.V., and Kahne, D.E., Degradation and reconstruction of moenomycin A and derivatives: dissecting the function of the isoprenoid chain. J Am Chem Soc, 2006. 128(43): p. 14012-3. link to pubmed

Lu, W., Leimkuhler, C., Gatto, G.J., Jr., Kruger, R.G., Oberthur, M., Kahne, D., and Walsh, C.T., AknT is an activating protein for the glycosyltransferase AknS in L-aminodeoxysugar transfer to the aglycone of aclacinomycin A. Chem Biol, 2005. 12(5): p. 527-34.

Leimkuhler, C., Chen, L., Barrett, D., Panzone, G., Sun, B., Falcone, B., Oberthur, M., Donadio, S., Walker, S., and Kahne, D., Differential inhibition of Staphylococcus aureus PBP2 by glycopeptide antibiotics. J Am Chem Soc, 2005. 127(10): p. 3250-1.

Kahne, D., Leimkuhler, C., Lu, W., and Walsh, C., Glycopeptide and lipoglycopeptide antibiotics. Chem Rev, 2005. 105(2): p. 425-48. link to pubmed

Leimkuhler, C., Chen, Z., Kruger, R.G., Oberthur, M., Lu, W., Walsh, C.T., and Kahne, D., Glycosylation of glycopeptides: a comparision of chemoenzymatic and chemical methods. Tetrahedron: Asymmetry, 2005. 16(2): p. 599-603. link to scidirect

Yuan, Y., Chung, H.S., Leimkuhler, C., Walsh, C.T., Kahne, D., and Walker, S., In Vitro Reconstitution of EryCIII Activity for the Preparation of Unnatural Macrolides. J Am Chem Soc, 2005. 127(41): p. 14128-14129.

Barrett, D., Leimkuhler, C., Chen, L., Walker, D., Kahne, D., and Walker, S., Kinetic Characterization of the Glycosyltransferase Module of Staphylococcus aureus PBP2. J Bacteriol, 2005. 187(6): p. 2215-7.

Oberthur, M., Leimkuhler, C., Kruger, R.G., Lu, W., Walsh, C.T., and Kahne, D., A systematic investigation of the synthetic utility of glycopeptide glycosyltransferases. J Am Chem Soc, 2005. 127(30): p. 10747-52. link to pubmed

Lu, W., Leimkuhler, C., Oberthur, M., Kahne, D., and Walsh, C.T., AknK is an L-2-deoxyfucosyltransferase in the biosynthesis of the anthracycline aclacinomycin A. Biochemistry, 2004. 43(15): p. 4548-58. link to pubmed

Lu, W., Oberthur, M., Leimkuhler, C., Tao, J., Kahne, D., and Walsh, C.T., Characterization of a regiospecific epivancosaminyl transferase GtfA and enzymatic reconstitution of the antibiotic chloroeremomycin. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 2004. 101(13): p. 4390-5.

Oberthur, M., Leimkuhler, C., and Kahne, D., A practical method for the stereoselective generation of beta-2-deoxy glycosyl phosphates. Org Lett, 2004. 6(17): p. 2873-6. link to pubmed

Belardi, J. K., Curtis, L. A., Clareen, S. S., Shimp, H. L., Leimkuhler, C. E., Simonowicz, N. L. and Casillas, E. "A Nazarov Approach to 4-Benzoyloxymethyl-cyclopent-2-enone, a Precursor to the Helminthosporols." Synth Comm 2005, 35, 1633-1640. link