Research

For 15 years, the Cox research lab investigated pi-stacking interactions in proteins, aminoglycoside antibiotics and sodium channels, molecular motions of anthocyanins and tris-indolyl compounds, and the biochemistry of enzymes involved in antibiotic resistance.  Collaborators in this work included Dr. Sterling Wright (Murray State University), Dr. Engin Serpersu (University of Tennessee), Dr. Gerry Wright (McMaster University), Dr. Christine Whitlock (Georgia Southern University), and Dr. Greg Tschumper (University of Mississippi). A total of six MS students and twenty undergraduate students worked in the lab.  Grants to support the research came from the ACS Petroleum Research Fund (Type B), Kentucky Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network, Kentucky Science and Engineering Foundation, Kentucky NSF Research Enhancement Grant Program, and the Kentucky Academy of Science Special Research Program. The research lab had to close due to significant infrastructure issues in Jones Hall.

Below is a list of research publications associated with the Cox lab. Besides the publications, his research students have numerous presentations at national and regional meetings of the American Chemical Society, Kentucky Academy of Science, Posters-at-the-Capitol (Frankfort, KY), and the National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR).

Copeland, K. L., Pellock, S. J., Cox, J. R., Cafiero, M. L. and Tschumper, G. S. “Examination of Tyrosine/Adenine Stacking Interactions in Protein Complexes” J. Phys. Chem. B 2013, 117, 14001-14008.

Copeland, K. L., Anderson, J. A., Farley, A. R., Cox, J. R., Tschumper, G. S. “Probing Phenylalanine/Adenine -Stacking Interactions in Protein Complexes with Explicitly Correlated and CCSD(T) Computations” J. Phys. Chem. B 2008, 112, 14291-14295.

Boehr, D. D., Farley, A. R., LaRonde, F., Murdock, T. R., Wright, G. D. and Cox, J.R. “Establishing the Principles of Recognition in the Adenine-Binding Region of an Aminoglycoside Antibiotic Kinase (APH(3’)-IIIa)”.  Biochemistry 2005, 44, 12445-12453.

Harper, S. A., Cox, J. R. and Wright, S. N. “Modeling of Benzocaine Analog Interactions with the D4S6 Segment of Nav4.1 Voltage-Gated Sodium Channels” Biophys. Chem. 2005, 113, 1-7.

Whittemore, N. A., Welch, K. T., Cox, J. R., Dougall, D. K. and Baker, D. C. “A Quenched Molecular Dynamics-Rotating Frame Overhauser Spectroscopy Study of a Series of Semibiosynthetically Monoacylated Anthocyanins” J. Org. Chem. 2004, 69, 1663-1669.

Yeiser, A. J., Cox, J. R. and Wright, S. N. “Voltage-Dependent Inhibition of Rat Skeleton Muscle Sodium Channels by Aminoglycoside Antibiotics”.  Pflugers Arch.-Eur. J. Physiol. 2004, 448, 204-213.

Carpenter, R. A., Farley, A. R., Cox, J. R., Dobson, A. J. and Whitlock, C. W. “Synthesis and Structural Characterization of a Novel Tris-Indolyl Amine”  J. Under. Chem. Res. 2004, 1, 11-14.

Boehr, D. D., Farley, A. R., Wright, G. D. and Cox, J. R. “Analysis of the pi-pi Stacking Interactions Between the Aminoglycoside Antibiotic Kinase APH(3’)-IIIa and Its Nucleotide Ligands”.  Chemistry & Biology 2002, 9, 1209-1217.

Cox, J. R., Ekman, D. R., DiGiammarino, E. L., Akal Strader, A., and Serpersu, E. H. "Aminoglycoside Antibiotics Bound to Aminoglycoside Detoxifying Enzymes and RNA Adopt Similar Conformations" Cell Biochem. Biophys. 2000, 33, 297-308.

Serpersu, E. H., Cox, J. R., DiGiammarino, E. L., Mohler, M.L., Ekman, D. R., Akal Strader, A., and Owston, M.  "Conformations of Antibiotics in the Active Sites of Aminoglycoside Detoxifying Enzymes" Cell Biochem. Biophys. 2000, 33, 309-321.