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, 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
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.
8/1/2024: Summer research
Nearly the entire group was on campus for summer research, including the graduate students (Kyle, Priscilla, Ulysses, Caleb, Carson, Casey, Ekene, Phoenix, Melanie) 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.
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.
3/17/2024: 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 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 successfully 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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