Biomacromolecule-Ligand Interactions

BIOGRAPHY

ACADEMIC POSITION:
Professor and Division Head, Structural Biology Division, The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Parkville, Victoria

EDUCATION:
Peter Colman received his undergraduate and PhD degrees at the University of Adelaide. He took an interest in the potential of physics to address biological problems, which led him to work in the area of protein crystallography for three years in the US, and in the area of antibodies for another three years in Germany.

RESEARCH INTERESTS:
The intrinsic pathway to cell death is controlled by the Bcl-2 family of proteins. High levels of these proteins can render cells resistant to chemotoxic insults. Such resistance is a hallmark of certain cancers. Some viruses express proteins which block the intrinsic cell death pathway by functioning as mimics of Bcl-2. Understanding the interactions of the Bcl-2 family proteins with their natural antagonists may inform the discovery of organic ligands capable of killing cells.