Biochemistry & Metabolomics

Biography

Dr. Moses Prabu completed his bachelors in Physics from The American College, Madurai, India. He continued his education in the same institution and received a Master’s degree in Advanced Physics with specialization in Quantum Optics and Solid State Physics. Around this time his passion for understanding biomolecules using modern physics grew deep and he switched fields to pursue his graduate research in determining structure function of proteins. He received his PhD in biophysics from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, where his contributions revealed new insights into plant lectins, microbial RecA and chemical evolution. He joined Dr. Celia Schiffer at UMASS Medical School, Worcester, MA, to conduct his postdoctoral research in HIV. His research led to the discovery of a “substrate-envelope” hypothesis which revealed the structural rationale for substrate specificity, drug resistance and coevolution of HIV-1 protease. This elegant approach has attracted several researchers to rationalize proteins with promiscuous specificity for molecular recognition. He subsequently accepted a faculty position at the Commonwealth Medical College, Scranton, PA, where his research projects include the characterization of a variety of aspartyl proteases using X-ray crystallography, tissue culture, biophysical techniques, and collaborative clinical research. As a founding faculty member of the Medical College, he played a pivotal role in establishing the Institution’s educational and research enterprises. He continues to serve the community by developing student internship programs that bridge industry and academia. In addition to his current role as a Protein Scientist, he also offers professional consultation services on regulatory implications on clinical application of biological drug compounds and preclinical testing of investigative drugs.

Research Interest

Dr. Prabu’s research spans highly diverse fields that bridge biomedical research and social sciences. Determining the molecular mechanism by which proteins perform their biological function. In certain cases, protein activity leads to several types of pathogenesis and human disorders. He interested in elucidating the structure, function and dynamics of such biomolecules to develop novel therapeutic methods using a wide-range of biophysical techniques. Specifically, he is very interested in structure-based drug design that use X-ray crystallography, isothermal titration calorimetry, chemical cross-linking methods, circular dichroism, molecular modeling, bioinformatics and proteomics. In parallel to his basic science research, Dr. Prabu is also involved in collaborative clinical research and studies involving human behavioral patterns in social settings.