Dr. John Trent
Assistant Professor
Email Dr. Trent
Phone Number: 502-852-2194
Fax: 502-852-2195
Address: Brown Cancer Center, Rm 427
Louisville, KY 40292
Ph.D.
Laboratory Personnel:
Holt, AndyMeier, Jason
Area of Interest:
Structure-based drug design, macromolecular molecular dynamics modeling of proteins, DNA and RNA drug discovery.My group uses numerous computational techniques to complement experimental approaches aimed at understanding macromolecular interactions. The methods include molecular dynamics, free energy perturbation calculations, and Monte-Carlo methods as applied to real world problems. The combination of modeling techniques with different experimental modalities such as NMR, X-ray diffraction and thermodynamic methods is synergistic, and is the key to understanding structure and function. We have successfully modeled the structure of the nucleolin binding quadruplex, as verified by biophysical studies such as CD (with P. Bates), analytical ultracentrifugation and NMR (with A. Lane). We also have produced detailed rhodopsin-based homology models of the CCR5 and CXCR4 chemokine receptors, embedded in a complete, solvated lipid bilayer, that successfully account for the saturation mutation data obtained by Dr. S. C. Peiper at the Brown Cancer Center (now at Georgia Medical College, Augusta). We have a strong interest in quadruplex structure and as a drug target and collaborate with Dr. J. B. Chaires on the biophysical aspect of this work.
We also have enhanced our drug discovery program by establishing a distributing computing Grid for virtual screening. The Grid development is in collaboration with Dataseam and uses thousands of computer processors in schools across the Commonwealth of Kentucky. It is now routine in my laboratory to screen millions of potential compounds against a cancer target in days. We have successfully screened over 20 cancer targets that are moving into the laboratories for anticancer activity testing.
