Laura M.K. Dassama

About

We are a multidisciplinary group of scientists in the Departments of Chemistry and Microbiology & Immunology and also affiliated with the Sarafan ChEM-H Institute. We are driven to decipher the molecular bases of complex biological phenomena. We seek to elucidate and exploit the synthesis and trafficking of metabolites essential for bacteria proliferation and pathogenesis, and to develop broadly applicable strategies for the post-translational modulation of intractable disease-relevant proteins.

Research topics

• Chemistry
• Biology
• Biochemistry
• Computational biology
• Cell biology

Selected publications

• Opportunities and challenges of protein-based targeted protein degradation

  Chemical Science · 2023-01-01 · 49 citations

  reviewOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  In the 20 years since the first report of a proteolysis targeting chimeric (PROTAC) molecule, targeted protein degradation (TPD) technologies have attempted to revolutionize the fields of chemical biology and biomedicine by providing exciting research opportunities and potential therapeutics. However, they primarily focus on the use of small molecules to recruit the ubiquitin proteasome system to mediate target protein degradation. This then limits protein targets to cytosolic domains with acces…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Nuclear Resonance Vibrational Spectroscopic Definition of the Facial Triad Fe^IV═O Intermediate in Taurine Dioxygenase: Evaluation of Structural Contributions to Hydrogen Atom Abstraction

  Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2020-10-26 · 45 citations

  articleOpen access

  The α-ketoglutarate (αKG)-dependent oxygenases catalyze a diverse range of chemical reactions using a common high-spin FeIV═O intermediate that, in most reactions, abstract a hydrogen atom from the substrate. Previously, the FeIV═O intermediate in the αKG-dependent halogenase SyrB2 was characterized by nuclear resonance vibrational spectroscopy (NRVS) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations, which demonstrated that it has a trigonal-pyramidal geometry with the scissile C–H bond of the s…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A Cell-Permeant Nanobody-Based Degrader That Induces Fetal Hemoglobin

  ACS Central Science · 2022-12-14 · 43 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Proximity-based strategies to degrade proteins have enormous therapeutic potential in medicine, but the technologies are limited to proteins for which small molecule ligands exist. The identification of such ligands for therapeutically relevant but "undruggable" proteins remains challenging. Herein, we employed yeast surface display of synthetic nanobodies to identify a protein ligand selective for BCL11A, a critical repressor of fetal globin gene transcription. Fusion of the nanobody to a cell-…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Evolution of nanobodies specific for BCL11A

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2023-01-10 · 29 citations

  articleOpen access

  Transcription factors (TFs) control numerous genes that are directly relevant to many human disorders. However, developing specific reagents targeting TFs within intact cells is challenging due to the presence of highly disordered regions within these proteins. Intracellular antibodies offer opportunities to probe protein function and validate therapeutic targets. Here, we describe the optimization of nanobodies specific for BCL11A, a validated target for the treatment of hemoglobin disorders. W…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Protein-Based Degraders: From Chemical Biology Tools to Neo-Therapeutics

  Chemical Reviews · 2025-01-17 · 19 citations

  reviewOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  The nascent field of targeted protein degradation (TPD) could revolutionize biomedicine due to the ability of degrader molecules to selectively modulate disease-relevant proteins. A key limitation to the broad application of TPD is its dependence on small-molecule ligands to target proteins of interest. This leaves unstructured proteins or those lacking defined cavities for small-molecule binding out of the scope of many TPD technologies. The use of proteins, peptides, and nucleic acids (otherwi…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Deciphering the molecular mechanisms of sterol lipid trafficking in bacteria

  NIH · $1.5M · 2023–2028

• Copper Acquisition by Methanotrophs.

  NIH · $164k · 2014–2017

Frequent coauthors

• Liting Zhai

  Hunan University of Science and Engineering

  84 shared

• Jonathan Chiu‐Chun Chou

  Stanford University

  84 shared

• Hannah Oo

  Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource

  79 shared

• Clyde A. Smith

  Stanford University

  78 shared

• Amber C. Bonds

  National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

  77 shared

• Paula V. Welander

  Stanford University

  77 shared

• Carsten Krebs

  Pennsylvania State University

  47 shared

• Wei Jiang

  39 shared

Labs

• Laura M.K. Dassama LabPI

Education

• Doctor of Philosophy, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

  Pennsylvania State University

  2013

Similar researchers at Stanford University

• Carolyn Bertozzih-190
• Richard Zareh-139
• Robert Waymouthh-101