•Genes regulate proteins (determine which proteins are produced and when) and it is proteins that regulate all the cellular functions in our body •For example, Vancomycin works by interfering with a protein’s ability to repair damaged cell walls.  So when a healthy protein develops a leision in its cell wall, it produces a protein that fixes the hole.  Vancomycin interferes with the ability of the protein to do its job so that the leision becomes fatal for the bacteria that we want to kill.  That is, proteins control everything in our bodies.

•Example on Vancomycin is a good example – drug that interacts with particular protein to keep cell wall from healing •Developed modifications of Vanco to make it bind more effectively to protein produced by bacteria

•PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen) Test for early detection of Prostate Cancer – IP owned by RPCI – receive royalties •Avonex – most widely prescribed drug for relapsing MS – first treatment shown to slow progress of the disease – approved in 1996 - developed by Larry Jacobs group – sold by Biogen ($0.5B per year) – WNY/UB doesn’t receive any direct funds from the sale of Avonex •Nicorette Gum – Developed by professor doing decompression studies on sailors who needed to keep taking a break to smoke a cigarette, so developed this to enable him to finish his decompression studies – do we make anything?? •Tarantula Venom – prevent atrial fibrillation, which is a leading cause of death following a heart attack – so far, works for rabbits (Fred Sachs) •Developed and patented a high-throughput search process for structural biology that tests 1536 “chemical cocktails” to enhance method of crystallization.

WNY – major chemical industries in early/mid 1900s and dumped a lot of chemicals in ground

Interested in modeling mud flows and lava flows and volcanic plumes – end goal is to predict where flows will occur

Complete model of physics involved