C. J. McKnight, PhD

Associate Provost and Dean, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Graduate Medical Sciences

Biography

My expertise is in protein structure, function, dynamics and folding and chemistry. Methods used include molecular biology, chromatography, NMR spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography, UV/Vis and circular dichroism spectroscopy, electron microscopy, molecular modeling and dynamics. We look at actin binding proteins (especially those containing villin-type headpiece domains) and lipid binding proteins including apolipoprotein B, the essential protein component of low density lipoprotein (LDL, the bad cholesterol) whose elevated levels are correlated with atherosclerosis, stroke, heart and cardiovascular disease.

Publications

  • Published 1/4/2024

    Vugmeyster L, Ostrovsky D, Rodgers A, Gwin K, Smirnov SL, McKnight CJ, Fu R. Persistence of Methionine Side Chain Mobility at Low Temperatures in a Nine-Residue Low Complexity Peptide, as Probed by 2 H Solid-State NMR. Chemphyschem. 2024 Feb 16; 25(4):e202300565. PMID: 38175858.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 1/14/2023

    Vugmeyster L, Nichols PJ, Ostrovsky D, McKnight CJ, Vögeli B. Slow methyl axes motions in perdeuterated villin headpiece subdomain probed by cross-correlated NMR relaxation measurements. Magnetochemistry. 2023 Jan; 9(1). PMID: 36776538.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 5/26/2020

    Nichols PJ, Falconer I, Griffin A, Mant C, Hodges R, McKnight CJ, Vögeli B, Vugmeyster L. Deuteration of nonexchangeable protons on proteins affects their thermal stability, side-chain dynamics, and hydrophobicity. Protein Sci. 2020 07; 29(7):1641-1654. PMID: 32356390.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 8/18/2018

    Vugmeyster L, Griffin A, Ostrovsky D, Bhattacharya S, Nichols PJ, McKnight CJ, Vögeli B. Correlated motions of C'-N and Ca-Cß pairs in protonated and per-deuterated GB3. J Biomol NMR. 2018 Oct; 72(1-2):39-54. PMID: 30121872.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 2/21/2018

    Miears HL, Gruber DR, Horvath NM, Antos JM, Young J, Sigurjonsson JP, Klem ML, Rosenkranz EA, Okon M, McKnight CJ, Vugmeyster L, Smirnov SL. Plant Villin Headpiece Domain Demonstrates a Novel Surface Charge Pattern and High Affinity for F-Actin. Biochemistry. 2018 03 20; 57(11):1690-1701. PMID: 29444403.

    Read at: PubMed

View All 71 Publications:   View Full Profile in BUMC

Other Positions

  • Associate Professor, Pharmacology, Physiology & Biophysics
    Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
  • Graduate Faculty (Primary Mentor of Grad Students)
    Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Graduate Medical Sciences

Websites

Education

  • University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, PhD
  • University of Delaware, MA
  • Washington College, BS

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