Dr. Guida leads a computer research lab composed mainly of Dell Precision Workstations with various Linux operating systems. We also have access to USF's cluster (currently with 316 nodes and a total of 2,064 cores) maintained by the Research Computing. Most research is performed with Schrödinger's Molecular Modeling Suite including modules like Glide (protein-ligand docking), Prime (homology modeling), and MacroModel (force field-based molecular modeling). Other software is employed for docking, molecular dynamics, molecular modeling, and homology model validation. Current projects and collaborations include the polyamine biosynthetic pathway in humans and microorganisms, DNA repair proteins, Bcl-xl protein family, deoxycytidine kinase, 1-deoxy-D-xylulose 5-phosphate synthase, MDM2/MDMX, dihydrofolate reductase specificity between humans and anthrax, potential phosphorylation sites of argininosuccinate synthetase, and the HIV protease. Our lab applies computational techniques to design inhibitors, develops more accurate methods of docking small molecules into protein binding sites, investigates enzyme catalysis or activity enhancement, and analyzes conformations of protein active sites as well as overall domain motion.
Dr. Guida is also the scientific director of the High Throughput Screening and Chemistry Core Facility at Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute. Several projects involve collaborations with Moffitt Scientists.
From left to right, front: Sai, Katherine, Jacob, Dr. Guida; back: Divya, Courtney, Dan.
