The Pomerantz lab is a chemical biology group at the University of Minnesota. Our interdisciplinary research uses a wide range of techniques including organic synthesis, bioanalytical chemistry, biochemistry and molecular biology for studying the function of transcription factors involved in disease. Our primary goal is to discover small molecules which we can synthesize in the laboratory to modulate the function of protein-protein interactions involved in transcription, with the ultimate goal of developing new chemical probes for understanding the biology of these proteins.
Our Research: Our overarching goal is to discover new ways to inhibit protein-protein interactions (PPIs) involved in transcription. Our research seeks to understand the molecular level details of transcription factor-protein interactions and epigenetic complexes which control how our genetic information is expressed. At the same time, we use chemistry to design synthetic molecules that disrupt the dysregulated forms of PPI communication to further understand the underlying biology and treat disease. We apply NMR and MRI, to visualize biomolecular interactions, and use small molecules that we synthesize in the laboratory to perturb the protein function. Students and postdocs working in this area are exposed to broad training in organic synthesis, protein biochemistry, fragment-based drug design and additional applied biophysics techniques to validate our 19F NMR approach.
Given that transcription factors represent a major class of potential drug targets and the demand for structural methods to characterize them, our biomolecular 19F NMR approach for transcription factor-PPIs could significantly increase the repertoire of new targets and open up new paths forward for small molecule discovery.
Lab News
Congratulations to Dr. Pomerantz for being named as co-chair of the ICBS Global Council. The International Chemical Biology Society (ICBS) Global Council is made up of chemical biology leaders who drive new initiatives and communicate exciting new chemical biology research.
You can read the full press release here.
Check out the new video about the Epigenetics Consortium at the University of Minnesota featuring the Pomerantz lab.
You can watch this video here.
Huda was one of the winners of the 4th-Year Virtual Seminar Series for her talk "Development of Small-Molecule Inhibitors of the Bromodomain of Epigenetic Protein BPTF." Students were judged on effective communication, critical thinking, and highlighting safety. Congrats to Huda for a job well done.
The Pomerantz lab welcomes three new chemistry students to the group: Brandon Datuin, Cole Scholtz, and Nora Vail. They will be working on important problems in chemical epigenetics developing 3D-fragments, PROTACs, and BET inhibitors respectively.
Brandon earned his B.S. in Chemistry, with a minor in Mathematics, from the University of Guam in 2020. He hopes to gain enough experience in the field, then hopefully go back to Guam to give back to the community. His hobbies include playing video games with friends, reading manga, and trying new foods.
