Kolade Adebowale

Kolade is interested in using chemistry to (i) advance our understanding of human diseases, such as cancer, and (ii) engineer biological systems/molecules to obtain novel molecules with therapeutic benefits though natural product synthesis, and protein engineering. By way of example, the complex nature of the tumor microenvironment can be unraveled by introducing novel functional groups in vivo. This could provide opportunities for early cancer detection, determining efficacy of treatment regimen, understanding the role of mechanical forces in cancer biology, and development of new cancer therapeutics. Furthermore, orthogonal chemistry can be utilized for precise protein/antibody modification in the design of therapeutics for a wide range of human diseases. In addition, Kolade is interested in experimental, computational, and theoretical approaches to elucidate the mechanism of HIV membrane fusion, novel strategies to illicit strong immune reaction during HIV infection, and to better understand the mode of action of small molecule antiviral compounds.