Swarts Lab
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry | Central Michigan University
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Research overview and recent highlights
Research overview and recent highlights
Research overview: We develop chemical tools to understand and target the mycobacterial cell envelope, with the goal of advancing both fundamental biological discovery and the development of new approaches to diagnose and treat mycobacterial diseases such as tuberculosis.
Click chemistry probe elucidates a post-translational protein lipidation in corynebacteria
New therapeutic strategies using metabolic inhibitors, permeability modulators, and antibody recruiters
Lab news
Lab news
7/30/2026: Group retreat on Beaver Island
The lab did a retreat at the CMU Biological Station on Beaver Island in Lake Michigan to discuss the lab's history, current research, operations and culture, and future research directions, and to enjoy the island together.
7/9/2026: Summer research
The summer research crew included graduate students (Ulysses, Caleb, Carson, Clinton, Zigli, Alex, Rohith, Samim), most of the undergraduate students (Vi, McNair Scholar Nic, Quin, CMU Summer Scholar Zach, and Suhani), and lab tech Adnan Khan. We hosted Griffin Shull, a community college outreach student from Mid-Michigan College, and Isaac Finch, a visiting undergraduate student from the University of Michigan. Picture from a disc golf outing with Prof. Neil White's group.
6/24/2026: Collaborative review article
BCMB PhD student Alex Aboagye contributed to a review article led by the Yu group (Case Wester Reserve University) and including the Jackson group (Colorado State University) and Zgurskaya group (University of Oklahoma):
Z. Zhang, E. Kundracik, W. Li, S. Babii, K. Choukate, A. Aboagye, P. A. Klenotic, R. Maharjan, W. D. Gregor, B. M Swarts, H. I. Zgurskaya, M. Jackson, E. W. Yu*. Structure, assembly, and mechanism of the MmpL family of transporters. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev., 2026, e0013926.
5/10/2026: Congrats graduates, welcome Samim
Melanie Hall and completed a BS in biochemistry and will enter the PharmD program at Ferris State University. Phoenix Knipe, a McNair Scholar, completed a BS in biochemistry in December and entered the MS chemistry program here at CMU, working with Dr. Anja Mueller.
Dr. Samim Sahaji has joined the group as a postdoctoral fellow.
3/25/2026: ACS Atlanta
BCMB PhD student Caleb Mensah and undergraduate biochemistry major Muhammad Nizami attended and presented posters at the ACS National Meeting in Atlanta, GA.
3/25/2026: Paper in ChemBioChem
BCMB PhD student Zigli Abdulai published a study in ChemBioChem describing a new fluorogenic probe that reports on activity of enzymes that degrade outer membrane glycolipids in mycobacteria. One such enzyme, the phage hydrolase lysin B (LysB), is a therapeutic candidate for treating mycobacterial infections.
3/1/2026: Congrats Kyle
Kyle Biegas defended his BCMB PhD dissertation, "Development and Application of Photoactivatable Chemical Probes to Profile Mycomembrane Lipid–Protein Interactions in Mycobacteria." He will move on to a postdoctoral fellowship in the Moellering lab at the University of Chicago.
1/10/2026: New students
We recently welcomed BCMB PhD student Rohith Suresh and biochemistry majors Zachary Hager and Suhani Bam Thakuri.
12/15/2025: OHSU Chemical Biology and Physiology
Ben presented at the Chemical Biology and Physiology 2026 conference held at Oregon Health Sciences University.
10/24/2025: Collaborative paper
BCMB PhD student Kyle Biegas contributed to a collaborative paper including the Derbyshire and Gray group (Wadsworth Center) and the Champion group (University of Notre Dame):
J. G. Canestrari, E. C. Gordon, S. A. Bruce, E. Lasek-Nesselquist, S. R. Schultz, H. A. Marietta, K. J. Biegas, B. M. Swarts, M. M. Champion, K. M. Derbyshire, T. A. Gray*. WhiB6 Transduces Contact-Dependent Signaling in Mycobacterium smegmatis and Coordinately Induces Both ESX-1 and ESX-4. Mol. Microbiol. 2025, 12, 559–572.
10/10/2025: 20th MCGS, University of Toledo
The group attended the 20th Midwest Carbohydrate and Glycobiology Symposium, held at the University of Toledo and hosted by Profs. Steve Sucheck, Peter Andreana, and Jianglong Zhu. Caleb, Clinton, Melanie, and Vi gave poster presentations, and Caleb and Melanie won Best Poster awards.
10/1/2025: Visiting graduate student
We hosted Yohei Omori as a visiting doctoral student from Prof. Takeda Yoichi's lab at Ritsumeikan University, Japan. Yohei worked with Caleb on synthesis of binfunctional fatty acids and traveled with Ulysses to see the Detroit Tigers play.
8/20/2025: ACS Washington, DC
The group attended the Fall ACS National Meeting in Washington, DC. Melanie gave a poster presentation and Ben gave talks on chemoenzymatic synthesis of bacterial sugars and therapeutic strategies targeting mycobacterial glycans.
8/1/2025: Visiting doctoral student
We hosted Hannah Marietta as a visiting doctoral student from Prof. Matt Champion's lab at the University of Notre Dame. Hannah worked with BCMB PhD student Kyle Biegas on the use of photoaffinity probes to study lipid-protein interactions in mycobacteria.
7/31/2025: Collaborative papers
We recently contributed to several collaborative papers led by the Siegrist group (UMass-Amherst), Eoh group (USC), Sucheck group (Toledo), and Conway group (CMU):
C. Santamaria, K. J. Biegas, P. N. Lim, J. Cabral, C. Y. Kim, J. R. Lee, I.V. Gaidhane, C. Papson, K. Gomard-Henshaw, A. C. Rothchild, B. M. Swarts, M. S. Siegrist*. Trehalose dimycolate inhibits phagosome maturation and promotes intracellular M. tuberculosis growth via noncanonical SNARE interaction. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A., 2025, 122, e2423292122.
J. J. Lee, D. H. Swanson, S.-K. Lee, S. Dihardjo, G. Y. Lee, S. Gelle, H. J. Seong, E. R. M. Bravo, Z. E. Taylor, M. S. Van Nieuwenhze, A. Singh, J.-S. Lee, S. Eum, S. Cho, B. M. Swarts, H. Eoh*. Trehalose catalytic shift inherently enhances phenotypic heterogeneity and multidrug resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Nat. Commun., 2025, 16, 6442.
U. S. S. Kumbalathara A.D., P. C. B. Halicki, K. Kalera, B. M. Swarts, K. H. Rohde*, S. J. Sucheck*. Synthesis and evaluation of trehalose-Pks13 inhibitor conjugates targeting mycobacteria. Carbohydr. Res., 2025, 553, 109506.
A. D. Marten, D. P. Haslitt, C. A. Martin, D. H. Swanson, K. Kalera, U. G. Johnson, B. M. Swarts, M. J. Conway*. Trehalose supports the growth of Aedes aegypti cells and modifies gene expression and dengue virus replication. PLoS Pathog., 2025, 1012795.
8/15/2025: Summer research
The summer research crew included graduate students (Ulysses, Caleb, Carson, Clinton, Zigli, Alex), most of the undergraduate students (Vi, Muhammad, McNair Scholar Nic, and CMU Summer Scholar Melanie), and new lab tech Adnan Khan. We hosted Quintin Gates and Kodey Nicewicz, community college outreach students from Delta College and Montcalm Community College, respectively. Picture from a canoe/kayak trip down the Chippewa River.
6/30/2025: ARM papers
BCMB PhD student Priscilla Dzigba published a study in ACS Infect. Dis. describing how synthetic antibody-recruiting molecules (ARMs) selectively kill mycobacterial pathogens as well as a broader review article in Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol. on different bacteria-targeting ARM strategies and their potential and challenges as immunotherapies.
5/10/2024: Congrats '25 graduates and awardees
Our '25 BS graduates include Casey Papson (PhD chemistry program, University of Notre Dame) and Ki'auna Meyer (medical school, Rocky Vista University, MT).
Ulysses was selected to participate in the ACS LEADS conference, Casey won CMU's Outstanding Organic Chemist Award and the CSE Dean's Scholar Award, Clinton was selected to participate in University of Michigan's Center for Chemoenzymatic Synthesis summer workshop, and Ben was awarded Outstanding Achievement in the Chemical Sciences by the ACS Midland Section.
4/14/2025: Paper in ACS Infect. Dis.
BCMB PhD students Kingsley Agu and Nicholas Banahene published their work on the synthesis and application of photoaffinity mycolic acid probes to investigate mycobacteria-host interactions. We collaborated with Dr. Sloan Siegrist's group (UMass-Amhest) on the work, and additional student contributors from CMU included Kyle Biegas, Casey Papson, and Andry Kruskamp.
3/31/2025: ACS San Diego
The group attended the Spring ACS National Meeting in San Diego, CA. Casey gave a poster presentation and Ben co-organized a symposium with Prof. Todd Lowary, "Mycobacterial Cell Wall Glycans: Structure and Function." Picture shows symposium speakers Profs. Hyungjin Eoh, Michael Niederweis, and Anil Ojha.
3/11/2025: Visiting doctoral student
We hosted Saitali Laharoy as a visiting doctoral student from Prof. Shobhna Kapoor's lab at IIT Bombay, India. Saitali worked with BCMB PhD students Clinton Kabutey and Ulysses Johnson on chemoenzymatic synthesis of trehalose analogues. The group took Saitali (pictured right) on an outing to visit Frankfort and Traverse City, including snow tubing.
2/11/2025: ACS Cent. Sci. highlight
BCMB PhD student Zigli Abdulai contributed to a First Reactions article in ACS Central Science highlighting the Liu group's siderophore-based fluorogenic probe for detection of mycobacteria:
A. Zigli and B. M. Swarts*. Pumping iron for tuberculosis diagnostics. ACS Cent. Sci., 2025, 11, 190–192.
1/10/2025: New students
Welcome BCMB PhD students, Alex Aboagye and Zigli Abdulai, the latter a former MS chemistry grad from our group. In addition, we were joined by undergraduate biochemistry major, Vi To, and lab technician Huzaifa Shafique, a CMU engineering student.
12/10/2024: Congrats Priscilla and Ekene
Priscilla Dzigba defended her BCMB PhD dissertation, "Immune Targeting of Mycobacteria with Antibody-Recruiting Molecules." Priscilla was co-advised by Prof. Mallary Wacker. She went on to a Program Manager position at EchoStar.
Ekene Osiri graduated with his BS degree in biochemistry with plans to attend medical school.
10/25/2024: CMU hosts Fall Scientific Meeting
Our group helped to organized and host the ACS Midland Section Fall Scientific Meeting at CMU, and several of our students gave poster presentations.
10/22/2024: Collaborative papers
We contributed to papers by Prof. Brian DeBosch's lab at Indiana University investigating effects on trehalose analogues on mammalian energy metabolism:
J. Sun, Y. Zhang, J. A. Adams, C. B. Higgins, S. C. Kelly, H. Zhang, K. Y. Cho, U. G Johnson, B. M. Swarts, S.-I. Wada, G. J. Patti, L. P. Shriver, B. N. Finck, E. D. Herzog, B. J. DeBosch. Hepatocyte Period 1 dictates oxidative substrate selection independent of the core circadian clock. Cell Rep., 2024, 43, 114865.
S. C. Kelly, C. B. Higgins, J. Sun, J. A. Adams, Y. Zhang, S. Ballentine, Y. Miao, X. Cui, M. Milewska, I. Wandzik, J. Yoshino, B. M. Swarts, S. Wada, B. J. DeBosch*. Hepatocyte MMP14 mediates liver and inter-organ inflammatory responses to diet-induced liver injury. PNAS Nexus, 2024, 3, pgae357.
8/26/2024: ACS Denver
The group attended the Fall 2024 ACS National Meeting in Denver, CO. Priscilla, Caleb, and Phoenix gave poster presentations. Ben gave a presentation in the CARB division on chemical probes to study mycobacteria-host interactions.
9/1/2024: New students
Carson Bush, CMU '24 biochemistry, is continuing as an MS chemistry student; Clinton Kabutey is welcomed as a new PhD BCMB student; and Muhammad Nizami and Ki'auna Meyer are welcomed as new undergraduate researchers.
8/1/2024: Summer research
Nearly the entire group was on campus for summer research, including the graduate students (Kyle, Priscilla, Ulysses, Caleb, Carson) and most of the undergraduate students (Ekene, Phoenix, Melanie, and CMU Summer Scholar Casey). We hosted Robert Thompson, a community college outreach student from Mid-Michigan Community College.
5/31/2024: Karishma defends
Karishma Kalera defended her BCMB PhD dissertation, "Targeting Mycobacterium tuberculosis persistence through inhibition of the trehalose catalytic shift." Karishma will begin a postdoctoral fellowship in biosafety at the University of Missouri Regional Biocontainment Facility.
5/10/2024: Congrats '24 graduates and awardees
Several undergraduate group members graduated with their BS degrees and are off to new positions, including Izzy Gaidhane (MD-PhD program, University of Wisconsin-Madison), Emma Doederlein (PharmD program, University of Michigan), Andy Kruskamp (MD program, Michigan State University), Carson Bush (MS chemistry program, CMU), Emily Maskill (PhD chemistry program, University of Notre Dame), and Evan Siemienkiewwicz (MS molecular biology program, EMU). We celebrated at Island Park with volleyball and basketball.
Carson won CMU's Outstanding Organic Chemist Award, Izzy and Emma won ACS Midland Section Outstanding Biochemistry Major Awards, and Emily won ACS Midland Section Outstanding Chemistry Major.
3/17/2024: ACS New Orleans
BCMB PhD student Ulysses Johnson and undergraduate chemistry major Emily Maskill presented at the ACS National Meeting in New Orleans, LA.
3/14/2024: Paper in JACS
BCMB PhD alumnus Dr. Nicholas Banahene (now at Eli Lilly) published his work developing and applying chemical probes and strategies to elucidate a unique post-translational protein lipidation in corynebacteria. Among other insights, his data revealed for the first time that a class of well-studied enzymes, mycoloyltransferases, are lipidated in corynebacteria. Collaborations with Profs. Josh Coon (Wisconsin) and Tom Bernhardt (Harvard) and their students were critical to this study.
3/14/2024: Paper in ACS Infect. Dis.
BCMB PhD student Karisha Kalera published her work demonstrating that synthetic trehalose analogues inhibit an enzyme (TreS) that enables mycobacteria to enter a drug-tolerant persister state. Collaborations with Profs. Hyungjin Eoh (USC) and Don Ronning (Nebraska) provided mechanistic and structural insights into the inhibitory activity.
3/10/2024: Stellenbosch visit
Through support from a CMU Research Study Abroad award, Ben and BCMB PhD student Ulysses Johnson visited collaborators at Stellebosch University Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences in Cape Town, South Africa, including Dr. Marisa Klopper. This was a full circle moment for Ulysses, who as a CMU undergrad was among the first students to visit Stellenbosch University through our science study abroad.
Biomedical Research Institute
With Dr. Marisa Klopper
Ulysses heading into BSL-3
Hiking Table Mountain
3/1/2024: Visiting postdoc
We hosted Dr. Kanae Sano as a visiting postdoc from Prof. Takeda Yoichi's lab at Ritsumeikan University, Japan. Dr. Sano worked with BCMB PhD student Caleb Mensah on synthesis of PIM glycolipid probes and fragments.
12/15/2023: IIT Bombay visit
Through a faculty and student exchange grant with Prof. Shobhna Kapoor, Ben visited the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay to participate in the Contemporary Challenges in Chemical Sciences (C3S) symposium.
C3S attendees
Poster session
IIT Bombay infinite corridor
With Prof. Suvarn Kulkarni
With Prof. Shobhna Kapoor's lab
With Prof. Suvarn Kulkarni's lab
Largest sun dial in the world, Vrihat Samrat Yantra in Jaipur
12/04/2023: Paper in Chem. Commun.
Undergraduate biochemistry major Izzy Gaidhane published her study on the effect of synthetic glycolipid substrates with shortened lipid chains on outer membrane permeability and antibiotic sensitivity in mycobacteria. BCMB PhD student Kyle Biegas and Prof. Don Ronning's group at the University of Nebraska contributed.
11/4/2023: CMU hosts Fall Scientific Meeting
Our group helped to organized and host the ACS Midland Section Fall Scientific Meeting at CMU, and several of our students gave poster presentations.
10/31/2023: Visiting researcher
We hosted Miura Ayana, a visiting doctoral student from Osaka University. Miura used metabolic labeling probes to study the effect of iron on mycomembrane fluidity.
9/01/2023: NSF grant supports ESI MS acquisitions
PI Dr. Choon Lee (Co-PI Swarts) secured funding to aquire two new high-resolution ESI mass spectrometers.
9/01/2023: New students
We welcomed a few new students over the summer, including new BCMB PhD student Caleb Mensah and new undergraduate biochemistry majors Casey Papson, Melanie Hall, and Phoenix Knipe.
8/20/2023: ACS Meeting
The group attended the Fall 2023 ACS National Meeting in San Francisco. Kyle, Priscilla, and Izzy gave oral presentations in the CARB graduate student & postdoc symposium and Emma, Karishma, and Ulysses gave poster presentations. Ben gave a presentation in the BIOL division on chemical proteomics tools for mycobacteria.
8/07/2023: Zigli graduates
Zigli Abdulai defended his MS Chemistry thesis, "Synthesis of Arabinogalactan Mycolate Analogues for Investigating Cell Envelope Metabolism in Mycobacteria." He will join the PhD Chemistry program at Purdue University.
7/01/2023: Summer research
Nearly the entire group was on campus for summer research, including the graduate students (Kyle, Karishma, Priscilla, Ulysses, Zigli, and Kingsley) and most of the undergraduate students (Izzy, Ekene, Carson, and CMU Summer Scholar Emma). We also hosted Jeremiah Little, a community college outreach student from the Saginaw Chippewa Tribal College. Kyle spent part of the summer as a visiting student in Dr. Matt Champion's lab at the University of Notre Dame.
6/24/2023: Awards
Izzy Gaidhane won the national Barry Goldwater Scholarship. Daniel Swanson won CMU's Provost's Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Research and ACS Midland Section Outstanding Biochemist Award. Ben was awarded the Mid American Conference (MAC) Outstanding Faculty Award and the CMU Student Mentorship Award.
6/12/2023: Paper in ACS Chem. Biol.
BCMB PhD student Priscilla Dzigba, co-advised by immunologist Dr. Mallary Wacker, published her study introducing mycobacteria-specific antibody-recruiting molecules (ARMs) as a possible immune targeting strategy for mycobacterial infections. Two undergraduate students, Adrian Rylski and Isaac Angera, contributed to the study. Priscilla's work and experience was described in a CMU story.
5/10/2023: Congrats '23 graduates
Daniel Swanson and Jessica Tauriainen completed their BS biochemistry degrees. Daniel will enter the MS Chemical Engineering Program at Michigan State University, and Jessica will enter physicians assistant school. Daniel and Jessica gave their final presentations to the group at Mountain Town Brewing Company in Mount Pleasant.
4/24/2023: Congratulations Nicholas, our first PhD graduate
Nicholas Banahene defended his dissertation, "Mycomembrane Labeling Probes for Imaging Mycobacteria and Characterizing Protein O-Mycoloylation." Nicholas will join Eli Lilly and Company as a Peptide and Bioorganic Chemist.
3/10/2023: Japan tour
Ben traveled to Japan to give presentations and explore collaboration/exchange opportunities at the Keio International Symposium on Glycoscience in Tokyo, as well as at Tottori University, Ritsumeikan University, and Osaka University.
3/02/2023: Paper in ACS Chem. Biol.
Working with Mary Jackson's group at Colorado State University, we developed azido inositol probes to label and investigate PIM glycolipids in mycobacteria and used the compounds to identify the first inositol importer in mycobacteria. MS students Kwaku Obeng and Alex Ausmus contributed to synthesis, and PhD student Karishma Kalera to biological studies.
This research was highlighted in Nat. Chem. Biol.
2/08/2023: Collaborative paper
We contributed to a review paper by the Conway virology lab focused on emerging targets for mosquito insecticide development, including trehalose metabolism.
M. J. Conway*, D. P. Haslitt, and B. M. Swarts. Targeting Aedes aegypti Metabolism with Next-Generation Insecticides. Viruses, 2023, 15, 469.
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