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Angela Wilks, PhD Isaac E. Emerson Chair of Pharmaceutical Sciences awilks@rx.umaryland.edu |
Angela Wilks received her BSc degree in Biochemistry from the University of Lancaster, England. She received her PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Leeds, where she worked on the mechanism of heme degradation with Professor Stanley B. Brown. Following a post-doctoral fellowship with Professor Paul Ortiz de Montellano she took an appointment as a Research Assistant Professor at the University of California, SanFrancisco. In 1998 she joined the faculty at the University of Maryland where she now holds a position as the Isaac E. Emerson Professor and Program Chair in Chemical & Biological Discovery. Her research interests focus on mechanisms by which bacterial pathogens acquire and utilize heme as an iron source. Professor Wilks research program spans disciplines employing bacterial genetics and metabolomics, together with biochemical and biophysical approaches to understand the molecular mechanisms by which pathogenic bacteria acquire heme. These studies have led to the structural characterization of several proteins involved in heme uptake and degradation, and to the rational design of potential therapeutic agents that reduce virulence through global effects on iron metabolism.
