Research Description

The Applied Protein Engineering Group's research focus is on biotechnology development through protein engineering. Professor Wood is known for groundbreaking research in self-cleaving affinity tag technology for the purification of recombinant proteins. Current applications include new ways to purify recombinant proteins, bacterial biosensors that incorporate human drug targets, and new capabilities in drug discovery and drug delivery.

Since the mid-1980s, the use of affinity tag technology has been a ubiquitous method for laboratories to purify virtually any arbitrary recombinant protein through a single general and simple method. While dozens of different tags, kits and accessories are now commercially available, this method has not been adopted for large-scale bioprocessing, largely due to the expense of removing the affinity tag after the target protein is purified. 

The group is currently developing new protein elements that effectively make the affinity tags self-cleaving after purification, therefore enabling many new tag-based protein purification methods that address the biotech industry's needs for scale, simplicity and cost control.

Prospective students, postdoctoral researchers, and visiting scholars should reach out to Dr. Wood directly for more information on incoming projects in any of these areas.