Karen Allen
· Professor of Chemistry; Professor of Materials Science and EngineeringBoston University · Chemistry
Active 1989–2026
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About
Karen Allen is a Professor of Chemistry and Materials Science and Engineering at Boston University. Her research group, The Allen Group, investigates the structure, function, mechanisms of catalysis, and evolution of enzymes. Their work provides insights into these essential proteins, guiding the design of specialized molecules and enzymes to aid in drug discovery and protein studies. The group employs techniques such as X-ray crystallography, kinetics, enzymology, and bioinformatics, collaborating with leading laboratories at other universities. Their studies include elucidating the determinants of substrate and membrane interaction of enzymes in the phosphoglycosyl transferase and glycosyl transferase families, which are involved in biosynthetic pathways leading to complex glycoconjugates that provide mechanical stability to microorganisms and mediate interactions among bacteria and with human hosts. Additionally, her group focuses on drug discovery efforts, including developing small-molecule inhibitors against neurotoxins produced by Clostridium botulinum, which are significant for both clinical applications and biological security. The research also extends to exploring protein-protein interactions to enhance structure-based ligand discovery. Dr. Allen holds a B.S. in Biology from Tufts University and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Brandeis University, with postdoctoral training in X-ray crystallography at MIT and Brandeis. Her work is supported by state-of-the-art…
Research topics
- Chemistry
- Biochemistry
- Biology
- Stereochemistry
- Computational biology
- Crystallography
- Microbiology
- Biophysics
- Nuclear physics
- Optics
Selected publications
Science · 2023 · 150 citations
Metabolic networks are interconnected and influence diverse cellular processes. The protein-metabolite interactions that mediate these networks are frequently low affinity and challenging to systematically discover. We developed mass spectrometry integrated with equilibrium dialysis for the discovery of allostery systematically (MIDAS) to identify such interactions. Analysis of 33 enzymes from human carbohydrate metabolism identified 830 protein-metabolite interactions, including known regulator…
Lanthanide-Binding Tags for 3D X-ray Imaging of Proteins in Cells at Nanoscale Resolution
Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2020 · 50 citations
We report the application of lanthanide-binding tags (LBTs) for two- and three-dimensional X-ray imaging of individual proteins in cells with a sub-15 nm beam. The method combines encoded LBTs, which are tags of minimal size (ca. 15-20 amino acids) affording high-affinity lanthanide ion binding, and X-ray fluorescence microscopy (XFM). This approach enables visualization of LBT-tagged proteins while simultaneously measuring the elemental distribution in cells at a spatial resolution necessary fo…
Journal of Molecular Biology · 2020 · 42 citations
Senior authorCorrespondingJournal of the American Chemical Society · 2021 · 39 citations
= 4.3 μM) solely by optimizing the conformation of the cyclic compound, without changing any KEAP1 interacting residue. X-ray crystal structures were determined for each linear and cyclic peptide variant bound to KEAP1. Despite large variations in affinity, no obvious differences in the conformation of the peptide binding residues or in the interactions they made with KEAP1 were observed. However, analysis of the X-ray structures by machine learning showed that locations of strain in the bound l…
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2021 · 29 citations
Senior authorCorrespondingThe monotopic phosphoglycosyl transferase (monoPGT) superfamily comprises over 38,000 nonredundant sequences represented in bacterial and archaeal domains of life. Members of the superfamily catalyze the first membrane-committed step in en bloc oligosaccharide biosynthetic pathways, transferring a phosphosugar from a soluble nucleoside diphosphosugar to a membrane-resident polyprenol phosphate. The singularity of the monoPGT fold and its employment in the pivotal first membrane-committed step al…
Recent grants
Trehalose-6-phosphate phosphatase inhibitors as anti-helminthics
NIH · $512k · 2016–2018
NSF · $791k · 2008–2012
NIH · $17.2M · 2013
Frequent coauthors
- 106 shared
Debra Dunaway‐Mariano
University of New Mexico
- 64 shared
Federico Martinón‐Torres
Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Respiratorias
- 53 shared
Barbara Imperiali
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- 53 shared
Michiel van der Flier
- 43 shared
N.R. Silvaggi
University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee
- 42 shared
Ronald de Groot
- 33 shared
Michael Levin
Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
- 32 shared
Marieke Emonts
Newcastle University
Labs
Allen GroupPI
Education
- 1990
Post-doctoral Associate, Chemistry
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- 1989
Ph.D., Biochemistry
Brandeis University
- 1984
B.S., Biology
Tufts University
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