Haribabu Arthanari
Haribabu Arthanari is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at the Harvard Medical School and the Department of Cancer Biology at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. His scientific training has been in the field of chemistry, physics and biophysics with expertise in NMR spectroscopy and the use of NMR methods to determine structures of proteins and nucleic acids. He has developed a number of novel NMR and biophysical methods to address unique and fundamental questions in biophysics. His research focuses on methods to push the frontiers of NMR to tackle large and complex systems and help target “undruggable” systems. The research program of his lab centers on structure-guided approaches to characterize, validate and target protein-protein interactions in the context of disease states utilizing a combination of techniques: NMR spectroscopy, NMR-based fragment, and high throughput screening, and biophysical and cell-based assays. This multi-pronged approach enables the characterization of the interaction interface at an atomic level and identify druggable hotspots. Understanding the molecular mechanisms orchestrated by these interactions paves the way to identify disruptive inhibitors that have the potential to lead to treatments for the related pathologies. The research focus includes the following: 1) critical interactions between transcription factors and the general transcriptional machinery, including the Mediator complex, co-activators, and remodeling factors, and 2) translation initiation machinery demonstrated to be dysregulated in cancer disease states.
Abstracts this author is presenting: