Cory Momany, Ph.D. Associate Professor Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences Office: Room 372, R.C. Wilson Pharmacy Phone: (706) 542-5370 E-mail: cmomany@mail.rx.uga.edu

Biosketch

B.A.	Rice University	Houston, TX	1983
Ph.D.	University of Texas	Austin, TX	1990
Postdoctoral Appt.	Purdue University	West Lafayette, IN	1992-1996
Assistant Research Scientist	University of Georgia	Athens, GA	1996-1998
Assistant Professor	University of Georgia	Athens, GA	1998-2005
Associate Professor	University of Georgia	Athens, GA	2005-Present

Research Interests
Dr. Momany's research is focused on the generation of atomic structures and the application of these atomic structures to pharmaceutical problems. The research program is multidisciplinary in approach and bridges the fields of nanotechnology, molecular biology, biochemistry, pharmacogenomics, and structure-based drug discovery- all centered around the use of macromolecular X-ray crystallography.

Generation of macromolecular structures using novel technologies. Dr. Momany is developing new methods of crystallizing macromolecules using self-assembling matrices coupled with Phage display technology for high-throughput crystallizations. This technology includes using bacterially produced antibody lattices and small proteins with enhanced symmetry features. Ultimately, the technology is targeted for crystallizing pharmacologically important drug metabolism proteins such as Cytochrome p450 monooxygenases and membrane receptor proteins. A current engineering grant, in collaboration with Dr. Bill Dennis in the Physics Department at UGA, is focused on screening for crystals in vivo using non-linear optical methods. The ultimate goal is to apply this technology to the field of nanotechnology as well as to apply the methodologies to the crystallization of macromolecules.

Application of macromolecular structures to pharmaceutical problems. Projects encompass several significantly overlapping research areas. First, we have collaborative projects focused on drug discovery targeting the human immunodeficiency virus. We have performed considerable purification and crystallization trials on HIV reverse transcriptase and capsid proteins and are collaborating on several additional HIV proteins. The goal is to obtain diffraction quality crystals of protein-drug complexes and perform structure-based drug design. The second area of research is bacterial regulation of transcriptions. Collaborations with faculty in the Microbiology Department at UGA (Drs. Ellen Neidle, Tim Hoover & Anne Summers) are focused on understanding bacterial transcriptional regulation at a molecular level. The structure determination of a LysR-type transcriptional regulatory effector domain (BenM-EBD) is complete and additional transcriptional regulators have been crystallized or are currently in crystallization trials. The last area of research is focused on structural studies of vitamin B6, pyridoxal-5'-phosphate (PLP) dependent enzymes to understand the biochemical mechanism of the cofactor. We have recently solved the atomic structures of bacterial diaminopimelate decarboxylase and bacterial kynureninase (collaboration with Robbie Phillips in the Chemistry Department at UGA).

Representative Publications
Lima, S., Khristoforov, R., Momany, C., Phillips, R.S. (2007) "Crystal Structure of Homo sapiens Kynureninase". Biochemistry 46(10):2735-44. Epub 2007 Feb 15.

Ezezika, O.C., Haddad, S., Neidle, E.L. and Momany, C. (2007) "Oligomerization Of BenM, A LysR-Type Transcriptional Regulator: Structural Basis For The Aggregation Of Proteins In This Family" Acta Crystallogr. F in press.

Craven, S.H., Ezezika, O.C., Momany, C., and Neidle, E.L. (2007) "LysR homologs in Acinetobacter: insights into a diverse and prevalent family of transcriptional regulators" book chapter in Acinetobacter in press.

Ezezika, O. C., Haddad, S., Clark, T. J., Neidle, E. L., and Momany, C. (2007) "Distinct Effector-Binding Sites Enable Synergistic Transcriptional Activation By BenM, a LysR-type Regulator" J. Mol. Biol. 367(3): 616-629. Epub 2006 Oct 4.

Nadkarni, A., Kelley, L.C., and Momany, C. "Optimization of a Mouse Recombinant Antibody Fragment for Efficient Production from Escherichia Coli", Protein Purif. Expr. 52(1):219-29. Epub 2006 Oct 26.

Momany, C., Levdikov, V., Blagova, L., Lima S., and Phillips, R.S. The Three Dimensional Structure of Kynureniase from Pseudomonas fluorescens, Biochemistry, 2004, 43(5), 1193-1203.