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David S. Libich, PhD

St. Baldrick’s Foundation Scholar

Rank: Assistant Professor
Department: Biochemistry & Structural Biology
Office: Greehey CCRI: 4.100.22 / RAB: 5.206.2
Tel: 210-562-9151 | 210-450-8326
libich@uthscsa.edu

Libich Lab Members

UTHSA Faculty Profile: David Libich,, PhD

Publications

Lab Research

Protein interactions mediate all cellular functions, activities, and communications. Despite their crucial importance, we know relatively little about many of these interactions due in large part to experimental limitations of structural biology. The central theme of my lab revolves around the determination of the structure and elucidation of the molecular mechanisms of highly dynamic and transient protein interactions. Our current efforts are focused on understanding the assembly and functional interactions of the low-complexity domains of RNA-binding proteins involved in cancer and neurodegenerative processes. In particular, we are interested in the oncogenic fusion protein EWS-Fli1 and the structural implications of its role as the sole driver of Ewing’s sarcoma. These types of proteins are challenging targets for biophysical characterization due to their extreme structural heterogeneity and propensity to aggregate.