Kalina A. Hristova, PhD

Joint Appointment in Biomedical Engineering, Joint Appointment in Oncology

Antimicrobial peptides, Biomaterials, Biomembranes, Biomimetics, Biosurface interactions, Cell signaling, Interfacial films, Membrane cell biology, Membrane permeabilization, Peptide–bilayer interactions, Structure of membrane proteins, Structure of membranes and lipid bilayers, Structure, assembly, function and physics of biological membranes, Surface engineering

• Kalina Hristova Lab

  • Researchers in the Hristova Lab use diverse biophysical and cell biological methods such as s-ray and neutron diffraction, fluorescence, Western blotting, circular dichroism, equilibrium dialysis and molecular modeling to address questions such as:

    • What structural and thermodynamic laws govern membrane protein folding and pathogenic misfolding?
    • How do mutations in the transmembrane segments of catalytic receptors induce pathological phenotypes such as cancers and growth disorders?
    • Can we, through structural and kinetic studies of membrane proteins, arrive at a “recipe” for the rational design of drugs that inhibit persistent membrane protein activation?
    • How does the lipid bilayer mediate protein-protein interactions?

• Chen L, Novicky L, Merzlyakov M, Hristov T, Hristova K. “Measuring the energetics of membrane protein dimerization in mammalian membranes.” J Am Chem Soc. 2010 Mar 17;132(10):3628-35. doi: 10.1021/ja910692u.

• Kavran JM, McCabe JM, Byrne PO, Connacher MK, Wang Z, Ramek A, Sarabipour S, Shan Y, Shaw DE, Hristova K, Cole PA, Leahy DJ. “How IGF-1 activates its receptor.” Elife. 2014 Sep 25;3. doi: 10.7554/eLife.03772.

• King C, Sarabipour S, Byrne P, Leahy DJ, Hristova K. “The FRET signatures of noninteracting proteins in membranes: simulations and experiments.” Biophys J. 2014 Mar 18;106(6):1309-17. doi: 10.1016/j.bpj.2014.01.039.

• King C, Stoneman M, Raicu V, Hristova K. “Fully quantified spectral imaging reveals in vivo membrane protein interactions.” Integr Biol (Camb). 2016 Feb 15;8(2):216-29. doi: 10.1039/c5ib00202h. Epub 2016 Jan 20.

• Li E, Merzlyakov M, Lin J, Searson P, Hristova K. “Utility of surface-supported bilayers in studies of transmembrane helix dimerization.” J Struct Biol. 2009 Oct;168(1):53-60. doi: 10.1016/j.jsb.2009.03.005. Epub 2009 Mar 20. Review.

• Merzlyakov M, Li E, Hristova K. “Directed assembly of surface-supported bilayers with transmembrane helices.” Langmuir. 2006 Jan 31;22(3):1247-53.

• Sarabipour S, Del Piccolo N, Hristova K. “Characterization of membrane protein interactions in plasma membrane derived vesicles with quantitative imaging Förster resonance energy transfer.” Acc Chem Res. 2015 Aug 18;48(8):2262-9. doi: 10.1021/acs.accounts.5b00238. Epub 2015 Aug 5.

• Sarabipour S, King C, Hristova K. “Uninduced high-yield bacterial expression of fluorescent proteins.” Anal Biochem. 2014 Mar 15;449:155-7. doi: 10.1016/j.ab.2013.12.027. Epub 2013 Dec 28.

• Singh DR, Ahmed F, King C, Gupta N, Salotto M, Pasquale EB, Hristova K. “EphA2 receptor unliganded dimers suppress epha2 pro-tumorigenic signaling.” J Biol Chem. 2015 Nov 6;290(45):27271-9. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M115.676866. Epub 2015 Sep 11.

• Singh DR, Cao Q, King C, Salotto M, Ahmed F, Zhou XY, Pasquale EB, Hristova K. “Unliganded EphA3 dimerization promoted by the SAM domain.” Biochem J. 2015 Oct 1;471(1):101-9. doi: 10.1042/BJ20150433. Epub 2015 Jul 31.

• Elected to Council, The Biophysical Society, 1/1/14
• Marlin U. Zimmerman Faculty Scholar, Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering, 1/1/11
• The Margaret Oakley Dayhoff Award, Biophysical Society, 1/1/07
• Career Development Award, University of California, Irvine, 1/1/00
• Gold Badge of Scientific Merit, Gold Badge of Scientific Merit, 1/1/98

• Advanced Methods and Applications in Quantitative Fluorescence, Lecture, 1/1/13
• Advances in Lipid-Protein Interactions: Understanding its Importance and Modulation in Cell Physiology (International Theoretical Course), Lecture, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico, 1/1/14
• Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Seminar, Lecture, 1/1/14
• Biological Membranes and Membrane Proteins: Challenges for Theory and Experiment, Lecture, Snowmass Village, CO, 1/1/13
• Biological Membranes and Membrane Proteins: Challenges for Theory and Experiments, Lecture, Telluride, CO, 1/1/15
• Canadian Chemical Society Annual Meeting, Lecture, Ottawa, 1/1/15
• Chemistry Seminar Series, Lecture, 1/1/15
• Chemistry/Biochemistry Seminar Series, Lecture, 1/1/14
• Chemistry/Biochemistry Seminar Series, Lecture, Wilmington, NC, 1/1/13
• Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research Seminar Series, Lecture, Rockville, MD, 1/1/13
• Membrane Active Peptides and Proteins, Lecture, Shanghai, 1/1/15
• Membrane Biochemistry and Biophysics and Molecular Signaling Series, Lecture, Rockville, MD, 1/1/13
• Membrane Protein Folding and Functioning, Lecture, Telluride, CO, 1/1/13
• Molecular Biophysics of Membranes, Lecture, FASEB Science Research Conference, Big Sky, MT, 1/1/14
• Optical Micro-spectroscopy and Molecular Imaging, Lecture, 1/1/15
• Physics/Biology Seminar Series, Lecture, Philadelphia, PA, 1/1/13
• Receptor Tyrosine Kinases: Insight Into Dimerization, Structure, and Function, Lecture, Workshop on Tethered Membranes, Singapore, 1/1/15
• Theoretical Molecular Biophysics Seminar Series, Lecture, Berlin, Germany, 1/1/13
• Third International Conference on Analytical and Nanoanalytical Methods for Biomedical and Environmental Sciences, Lecture, Brasov, Romania, 1/1/14

• 2012 FASEB Research Conference, Molecular Biophysics of Cellular Membranes, Chair
• 2012 Membrane Structure and Assembly, Chair