Enzymology at Southern Research

• Recombinant protein expression and purification
• Enzyme assays for assessment of drug inhibition and/or specificity
• Development of specific mechanism-based assays
• Adaption of enzyme assays for High-Throughput Screening
• Assay validation
• Support for IND applications

Southern Research provides high quality enzymological support on internal and external research projects. Directed by Lucile White of the Enzymology Lab, our scientific staff has more than 40 years experience working with enzymes from all six main classes and is familiar with most methods used to follow enzyme reactions.

Some enzymes of recent interest in the lab are human DNA polymerase Α, Β, and Γ, viral reverse transcriptases, protein kinase C, receptor tyrosine kinases (erbB-2 and epidermal growth factor receptor), dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR), calcineurin, SARS protease, FtsZ, HIV-1 RNAse H, tissue plasminogen activator (TPA), farnesyl protein transferase, HMG-CoA reductase, ornithine decarboxylase (ODC), S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase (SAM-DC), and hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HGPRT), The work at Southern Research has been primarily aimed at testing the effects of drugs on target enzymes, including contract and grant work. For larger compound libraries, Southern Research has high-throughput screening capabilities.

On chemoprevention contracts, the laboratory supervisor has overseen the development of cell-based assays for glutathione and glutathione S-transferase induction, and inhibition of ornithine decarboxylase induction. On toxicology contracts, tissue levels of phase 1 biotransformation enzymes (cytochrome P450) and phase II enzymes are determined. Recent work has included developing and transferring biochemical, target-specific Mycobacterium tuberculosis drug screening assays into high-throughput format.

About E. Lucile White
E. Lucile White did her undergraduate work at Southwestern-at-Memphis, currently Rhodes College (Memphis, TN), where she received her BA degree in Chemistry (1966). After college she worked in research at The University of Alabama Medical Center (Birmingham, AL), the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center (Hershey, PA), and the Frederick Cancer Research Center (Frederick, MD), primarily in the field of oncology. She joined Southern Research in 1980 and became supervisor of the Enzymology Laboratory in 1990. Ms. White has contributed to numerous publications in the enzymology field.