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John Walker, Ph.D

Assistant Professor
Pharmacology and Physiology

Education

1990 B.S. Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville 

1992 M.S. Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville 

1998 Ph.D. Indiana University

Research Interests

My research interests are in the area of synthetic medicinal chemistry. We design and synthesize molecules using state of the art techniques. We focus on multi-disciplinary collaborative projects to develop new tool and therapeutic compounds to probe complex biological systems. Currently, we are focused primarily in two areas: development on novel modulators for nuclear receptors and development of methods and strategies for targeting Gram-negative bacteria. Prior to coming to academia, I worked in the pharmaceutical industry leading discovery projects in a variety of therapeutic areas.

Publications and Media Placements

1) Zhao, H.; Petrushenko, Z.; Walker, J.; Baudry, J.; Zgurskaya, H.; Rybenkov, V. Small molecule condensin inhibitors. ACS Infect Dis. 4(12):1737, Oct. 2018. PMID:30346684 

2) Cooper, S.J.; Krishnamoorthy, G.; Wolloscheck, D.; Walker, J.K.; Rybenkov, V.V.; Parks, J. M.; Zgurskaya, H.I. Molecular Properties That Define the Activities of Antibiotics in Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. ACS Infect Dis. 4(8):1223, May 2018. PMID:29756762 

3) Woehl, Jordan L.; Raymar, Karsa X.; Katz, Benjamin B.; Walker, John K.; Geisbrecht, Brian V. The structural basis for inhibition of the classical and lectin complement pathways by S. Aureus extracellular adherence protein. Protein Sci. 26(8):1595. Aug, 2017. PMID 28512867 

4) Haynes, K.M.; Abdali, N.; Jhawar, V.; Zgurskaya, H.I.; Parks, J.M.; Green, A.; Baudry, J.; Rybenkov, V.V.; Smith, J.C.; Walker, J.K.* Identification and Structure-Activity Relationships of Novel Compounds that Potentiate the Activities of Antibiotics in Escherichia col. J Med Chem. 60(14):6205. Jul, 2017. PMID:28650638 

5) Abdali, N.; Parks, J. M.; Haynes, K. M.; Chaney, J. L.; Green, A. T.; Wolloscheck, D.; Walker, J. K.; Rybenkov, V. V.; Baudry, j.; Smith, J. C.; Zgurskaya, H. I. Reviving antibiotics: efflux inhibitors with a new mechanism of action. ACS Infect Dis. 3(1):89. Jan, 2017. PMID 2829852301/17 

6) Garcia, B.; Skaff, A.; Wyckoff, G.; Walker, J.K.; Hanning, A.; Chatterjee, A.; Giesbrecht, B.V. Identification of C3b-Binding Small-Molecule Complement Inhibitors Using Cheminformatics. J Immunol. 198(9): 3705. 2017. PMID 28298523 

7) Wang, Y.; Billon, C.; Walker, J.K.; Burris, T.P. Therapeutic Effect of a Synthetic RORa/g Agonist in an Animal Model of Autism. ACS Chem Neurosci. 7(2):143, Feb, 2016. PMID:26625251