Our current projects are in the areas of infectious disease, cancer, and cardiovascular / pulmonary health. We are guided by a broad curiosity about how enzymes work and how we can manipulate their functions. In most projects, we study the chemistry behind how these proteins accelerate chemical reactions that are important for biological processes. We use this information to develop small molecules to regulate the enzyme’s function, to design variant enzymes with altered functions or properties, or to design chemical probes to study the activity of enzymes within living cells. We have a particular interest in developing and studying inhibitors that rely on covalent bond formation as part of their mechanism. We choose to study enzymes that are suitable targets for new drugs, so our work also serves as an early step in the development of novel therapeutics.