Research:
Conformation-biological activity relationships studies in peptides including GnRH, gastrin and amyloid b.
Studying the effect of weakly polar interactions on peptide/protein structures by Molecular Dynamics simulations, ab initio quantum chemical calculations and bioinformatics.
MD simulations of interactions between heat schock proteins and antimicrobial peptides.
Studying conformational properties of peptides using vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) and electronic CD spectroscopies.
Group Members:
Richard
F. Murphy, Ph.D.
József
Csontos, Ph.D.
Jeffrey Copps, Graduate Student
Nicholas Palermo, Graduate Student
Alumni Members:
Shawn
Ahmed, Ph.D.
Attila Borics, Ph.D.
Zsolt Bozsó, Ph.D.
Barna Budai, Ph.D.
Gregory Chasse, Ph.D.
Dmitry Gembitsky, Ph.D.
Krisztina Herédi-Szabó, Ph.D.
Tamás Körtvélyesi, Ph.D.
Michael Owen, M.Sc.
Gergely Tóth, Ph.D.
Charles Watts, M.D., Ph.D.
News
Creighton University Magazine, "Creighton Researchers on Road to Developing Cancer Treatment" Fall 1999, 26-31.
Kragol, G.; Lovas, S.; Varadi, Gy.; Condie, B.A.; Hoffmann, R.; Otvos, Jr., L. The antibacterial peptide pyrrhocoricin inhibits the ATPase actions of DnaK and prevents chaperone-assisted protein folding. Biochemistry 2001, 40, 3016 -3026.
Was selected as American Chemical Society: Biochemistry Hot Article
Creighton University Magazine "Super Computer Helps Fit Pieces Together" Fall, 2002, 10.
Selected Publications:
Otvos, L.; Insug, O.; Rogers, M.E.; Consolvo, P.J.; Condie, B.A.; Lovas, S.; Bulet, P.; Blaszczyk-Thurin, M. Interaction between heat schock proteins and antimicrobial peptides. Biochemistry, 2000, 39, 14150-14159.
Bozsó, Zs.; Tóth, G.; Murphy, R.F.; Lovas, S. Difficulties in coupling to conformationally constrained aromatic amino acids. Letters in Pept. Sci. 2000, 7, 157-163.
Watts, C.R.; Tóth, G.; Murphy, R.F.; Lovas, S. Domain Movement in the Epidermal Growth Factor Family of Peptides. J. Mol. Struct. (Theochem) 2001, 535, 171-182.
Tóth, G.; Watts, C.R.; Murphy, R.F.; Lovas, S. Significance of Aromatic-Backbone Amide Interactions in Protein Structure. Proteins Struct. Funct. Genet. 2001, 43, 373-381.
Kragol, G.; Lovas, S.; Varadi, Gy.; Condie, B.A.; Hoffmann, R.; Otvos, Jr., L. The antibacterial peptide pyrrhocoricin inhibits the ATPase actions of DnaK and prevents chaperone-assisted protein folding. Biochemistry 2001, 40, 3016 -3026.
Watts, C.R.; Mezei, M.; Murphy, R.F. and Lovas, S. Conformational Space Comparison of GnRH and lGnRH-III using Molecular Dynamics, Cluster Analysis and Monte Carlo Thermodynamic Integration. J.Biomol. Struct. & Dyn. 2001, 18, 733-748.
Körtvélyesi, T.; Kiss, G.; Murphy, R.F.; Penke, B. and Lovas, S. Effect of Ala Substitution and N- and C-terminal Modification and the Presence of Counter Ions on the Structure of Amyloid Peptide Fragment Ab(25-35). J. Mol. Struct . (Theochem) 2001, 545, 215-223.
Tóth, G.; Murphy, R.F. Lovas, S. Stabilization of Local Structures by pi-CH and Aromatic-Backbone Amide Interactions Involving Prolyl and Aromatic Residues. Protein. Eng. 2001, 14, 543-547.
Ahmed, S.I.; Wibowo, F.; Gembitsky, D.S.; Bozsó, Zs.; Murphy, R.F.; Lovas, S. Importance of the C-terminal Phenylalanine of Gastrin for Binding to the Human CCK2 Receptor. J. Pept. Res. 2001, 58, 332-337.
Tóth, G.; Murphy, R.F.; Lovas, S. Investigation of Aromatic-Backbone Amide Interactions in the Model Peptide Acetyl-Phe-Gly-Gly-N-methyl amide Using Molecular Dynamics Simulations and Protein Database Search. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2001, 123, 11782-11790.
Gembitsky, D.S.; Bozsó, Zs.; O'Flaharty, M.; Ötvös, F.; Murphy, R.F.; Lovas, S. A specific binding site for a fragment of the B-loop of epidermal growth factor and related peptides. Peptides, 2002, 23, 97-102.
Chass, G.A.; Sahai, M.A.; Law, J.M.S.; Lovas, S.; Farkas, Ö; Perczel, A.; Csizmadia, I.G. Toward a Computed Peptide Structure Database: The role of a Universal Atomic Numbering System of Amino Acids in Peptides and Internal Hierarchy of Database. Int. J. Quant. Chem. 2002, 90, 933-968.
Kragol, G.; Hoffmann, R.; Chattergoon, M.A.; Lovas, S.; Cudic, M.; Bulet, P.; Condie, B.A.; Rosengren, K.J.; Montaner, L.J.; Otvos, L., Jr. Identification of crucial residues for the antibacterial activity of the proline-rich peptide, pyrrhocoricin. Eur. J. Biochem., 2002, 269, 4226-4237.
Chass, G.A.; Lovas, S.; Murphy, R.F.; Csizmadia, I.G. The Role of Enhanced Aromatic pi-Electron Donating Aptitude of the Tyrosyl Sidechain with Respect to that of Phenylalanyl in Intramolecular Interactions. European Phys. J. D 2002, 20, 481-497.
Borics, A.; Murphy, R.F.; Lovas, S. Fourier Transform Vibrational Circular Dichroism as a Decisive Tool for Conformational Studies of Peptides Containing Tyrosyl Residues. Biopolymers: (Biospectroscopy) 2003, 72, 21-24.
Bhattacharjee, S.; Tóth, G.; Lovas, S. and Hirst, J.D. Influence of Tyrosine on the Electronic Circular Dichroism of Helical Peptides, J. Phys. Chem. B 2003, 107, 8682-8688.
Borics, A.; Chass, G.A.; Csizmadia, I.G.; Murphy, R.F. and Lovas, A. The Benefits of a Pre-computed Amino Acid Structure Database in Quantum Chemical Geometry Optimizations of β-turns of Peptides. J.Mol.Struct. (THEOCHEM) 2003, 666-667, 355-359.
Ahmed, S.; Budai, B.; Herédi-Szabó, K.; Farkas, J.; Tóth, G.; Murphy, R.F.; Lovas, S. High and low affinity receptors mediate growth effects of gastrin and N-carboxymethyl gastrin on DLD-1 human colonic carcinoma cells. FEBS Lett. 2004, 556, 199-203.
Borics, A.; Murphy, R.F.; Lovas, S.; Molecular Dynamics Simulations of β-Turn Forming Tetra- and Hexapeptides. J. Biomol. Struct. & Dyn. 2004, 21, 761-770.
Tóth, G.; Kövér, K.E.; Murphy, R.F.; Lovas, S. Aromatic-Backbone Interactions in a-helices. J. Phys.Chem. B 2004, 108, 9287-9296.
Herédi-Szabó, K.; Lubke, J.; Tóth, G.; Murphy, R.F.; Lovas, S. Importance of the central region of lamprey gonadotropin-releasing hormone III in the inhibition of breast cancer cell growth. Peptides, 2005, 26, 419-422.
Ahmed, S.; Murphy, R.F.; Lovas S. Importance of N- and C-terminal Regions of Gastrin-Gly for Preferential Binding to High and Low Affinity Gastrin-Gly Receptors. Peptides, 2005, 26, 1207-1212.
Owen, M.C.; Komáromi, I.; Murphy, R.F.; Lovas, S. The conformational preference of Ca-centered radicals in proteins. J. Mol. Struct. (THEOCHEM), 2006, 759, 117-124.
Copps, J.; Murphy, R.F.; Lovas, S. Avian Pancreatic Polypeptide Fragments Refold to Native aPP Conformation When Combined in Solution: A CD and VCD Study. Biopolymers, 2006, 83, 32-38.
Herédi-Szabó, K.; Murphy, R.F.; Lovas, S. Different signal responses to lamprey GnRH-III in human cancer cells. Int. J. Pept. Res. and Therapeutics, 2006, 12, 359-364.
Herédi-Szabó, K.; Murphy, R.F.; Lovas, S. Is lGnRH-III the most potent GnRH analog containing only natural amino acids, that specifically inhibits the growth of human breast cancer cells? J. Pept. Sci. 2006, 12, 714-720.
Borics, A.; Murphy, R.F.; Lovas, S. Optical Spectroscopic Elucidation of Different Types of β-Turns in Disulfide Bridged Cyclic Tetrapeptides. Biopolymers, 2007, 85, 1-11.
Copps, J.; Ahmed, S.; Murphy, R.F. and Lovas S. Gastrin 1-6 Promotes Growth of Colon Cancer Cells Through Non-CCK Receptors. Peptides 2007, 28, 632-635.
Palermo, N.Y.; Csontos, J.; Owen, M.C.; Murphy, R.F. Lovas, S. Aromatic-Backbone Interactions in Model a-Helical Peptides. J. Comp. Chem. 2007, 28, 1208-1214.
Otvos, F.; Gembitsky, D.S.; Murphy, R.F.; Lovas, S. Synthesis and structure-activity relationships of [Nle10]Neurokinin A (4-10) analogs with constraint in the backbone and at position six. Int. J. Pept. Res. and Therapeutics, 2007, DOI 10.1007/s10989-007-9087-y.
Copps, J.; Murphy, R.F.; Lovas, S. VCD Spectroscopic and Molecular Dynamics Analysis of the Trp-Cage Miniprotein TC5b. Biopolymers (Peptide Sci.) 2007, 88, 427-437.
Palermo, N.Y.; Csontos, J.; Murphy, R.F. Lovas, S. The Role of Aromatic Residues in Stabilizing the Secondary and Tertiary Structure of Avian Pancreatic Polypeptide. Int. J. Quantum. Chem. 2007, in press.
Dr. Sándor Lovas
Professor
Creighton University
School of Medicine
Department:
Biomedical
Sciences
Omaha, Nebraska 68178
Tel: 402-280-5753
Fax:
402-280-2690
E-Mail:
slovas@creighton.edu