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Jonathan Wilker
Associate Professor—Inorganic Chemistry
Email: wilker@purdue.edu
Phone: 765-496-3382
Office: BRWN 4131C
For Professor Wilker's individual Home Page click here.
The research in our laboratory focuses upon elucidating new roles for metals in biology. Our work encompasses a number of fields including biochemistry, inorganic chemistry, polymer chemistry, marine biology, and materials engineering.
Biological Materials from the Oceans
We are exploring how biological systems produce materials. Our focus is upon marine biomaterials such as mussel adhesives, barnacle cements, and coral reef structures. Efforts are aimed at both understanding the principles behind biomaterial formation and developing applications for the unique properties inherent in these systems. Efforts to date have focused upon mussel adhesives, a material produced by extensive cross-linking to yield a protein-based matrix. We are working with synthetic inorganic complexes, small peptides, protein extracted from the animals, and live mussels. Synthetic, spectroscopic, biochemical, and materials engineering data all indicate that mussels use iron to cross-link proteins and form their adhesive. We are using this information to develop applications such as surgical adhesives and antifouling coatings. Studies are also being extended to other biological materials such as those produced by barnacles, sea stars, and kelp to see if metal-mediated protein cross-linking is a common theme in biomaterial formation.
Figure: A marine mussel adhering to a sheet of Teflon.
Carcinogen Interception and Detoxification by Inorganic Compounds
Regular components of the diet such as selenium and vanadium are known to prevent chemically induced cancers. At this time however, little information is available about the potential mechanisms by which these inorganics prevent cancer. Our lab is studying detoxification reactions in which these inorganic species consume carcinogens, thereby preventing DNA damage and the ensuing cellular alterations. This work involves studying the reactivity of inorganic compounds toward toxins, DNA biochemistry, and whole cell studies. To date we have found that certain metal-oxo compounds such as vanadates can detoxify alkylating agents and prevent DNA damage. These results are being used to design a second generation of compounds for preventing cancer.
Figure: Crystal structure of the (V3O9)3- anion.
Metal-Linked Nucleic Acid Drug Design
Antisense therapy presents a promising avenue for future treatment of genetic-based diseases. The antisense approach relies upon binding of a nucleic acid-derived drug to an mRNA (or genetic) target in order to prevent expression of a disease causing protein. Standard nucleic acids have high specificity for these mRNA targets but low stability in cells. In an effort to develop superior drugs, we are preparing a new class of nucleic acids in which metal complexes play novel structural and charge roles in the DNA backbone. The phosphate of DNA is replaced by various metal-ligand complexes, thereby imparting unique properties of these complexes to the drug. This work involves drug synthesis, biochemical binding assays, and cellular studies.
Figure: A metal-linked nucleic acid drug candidate.
Education
B.S. 1991, University of Massachusetts, Amherst; Ph.D., 1996, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Postdoctoral Scholar, 1996-1999, California Institute of Technology.Recognitions
- One of the Ten Best Teachers in the College of Science, Purdue University, 2005
- One of the Ten Best Teachers in the School of Science, Purdue University, 2004
- Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow , 2002
- Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation Young Investigator Award, 2001
- National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Award (CAREER), 2001
Selected Publications
- Doraiswamy A.;Dunaway, T. M.;Wilker, J. J.;Narayan, R. J., Inkjet Printing of Bioadhesives . Journal of Biomedical Materials Research 2009 , 89B , 28-35.
- Cristescu R.;Mihailescu, I. N.;Stamatin, I.;Doraiswamy, A.;Narayan, R. J.;Westwood, G.;Wilker, J. J.;Stafslien, S.;Chisholm, B.;Chrisey, D. B., Thin films of polymer mimics of cross-linking mussel adhesive proteins deposited by matrix assisted pulsed laser evaporation . Applied Surface Science 2009 , 255 , 5496-5498.
- Fautch J. M.;Fanwick, P. E.;Wilker, J. J., Oxidovanadium Complexes for the Consumption of Alkylating Toxins . European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry 2009 , , 33-37.