Dr. Michael W. Beck
Assistant Professor - Biochemistry Office: 4460 - Physical SciencesPhone: 217-581-6227
Email: mbeck2@eiu.edu
Website: http://Beck-Lab.com
INTRODUCTION
Professor Beck earned his B.S. in Chemistry with a concentration in Biochemistry with ACS certification cum laude at Tennessee Technological University in 2011, where he performed research with Professor Edward Lisic. He then obtained his Ph.D. in Chemistry in 2015 at the University of Michigan with Professor Mi Hee Lim, spending the last year of his graduate studies as a visiting research scholar at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology in Ulsan, South Korea. His graduate work focused on designing small molecule chemical tools to study metal-protein interactions in neurodegenerative diseases. Then, as a postdoctoral scholar with Professor Bryan Dickinson at the University of Chicago, he developed small molecule chemical tools to study covalent cysteine PTMs. Professor Beck joined the faculty at Eastern Illinois University in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in 2019. Professor Beck's research group is intested in studying the spatial and temporal organization of biochemistry in relation to human health or in simpler terms: biochemistry that is important because of when and where it occurs in the human body.
Education & Training
Ph.D., University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA (2015)
B.S., Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville, TN, USA (2011)
Publications
Carbonate-Based Fluorescent Chemical Tool for Uncovering Carboxylesterase 1 (CES1) Activity Variations in Live Cells Singh, A.; Gao, M.; Karns, C. J.; Spidle, T. P.; Beck, M. W. ChemBioChem 2022, Accepted DOI: 10.1002/cbic.202200069
Human Carboxylesterases and Fluorescent Probes to Image Their Activity in Live Cells Singh, A.; Gao, M.; Beck, M. W. RSC Med. Chem. 2021, 12, 1142.
Funding & Grants
NIH R15 AREA R15GM152890 (2/1/2024-1/31/2027) $300,000 direct National Institute of General Medical Studies (NIGMS) "Chemical Biology Approaches to Understand Interindividual Variability in Carboxylesterase Activity" Role: PI
NSF LEAPS-MPS 2213273 (7/1/2022-6/30/2025) $250,000 total
NSF Launching Early-Career Academic Pathways in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences
“LEAPS-MPS: Peroxisome Targeting Chemical Technologies and Tools to Study Subcellular Chemistry”
Role: PI
Frequently Taught Courses
- CHM 1310G: General Chemistry I
- CHM 1315G: General Chemistry Laboratory I
- CHM 1390G: General Chemistry I, Honors
- CHM 1395G: General Chemistry Laboratory I, Honors
- CHM 1415: General Chemistry Laboratory II
- CHM 3300: Survey of Biochemistry
- CHM 3450: Biochemistry I
- CHM 3455: Biochemistry Laboratory
- CHM 3460: Biochemistry II
- CHM 4790: Medicinal Chemistry
- CHM 4860: Advanced Biochemistry
- CHM 5003: Critical Reading of Chemical Literature
Research & Creative Interests
Goals: Our group will develop fluorogenic chemical tools to study enzyme activity and use them to investigate the role of enzymes in context of their tissue localization.
Training Opportunities: Students on projects in this research area gain experience in organic synthesis, molecular docking, fluorescence microscopy and spectroscopy, mammalian cell culture, in addition to various biochemical, molecular biology, bioanalytical, and biophysical approaches.
Impacts: Our chemical tools and the studies they enable will reveal the role in human health of enzymes of interest in context of their tissue-dependent localization. These new biological discoveries will be leveraged to improve and develop new therapeutics.
Publications:
- Carbonate-Based Fluorescent Chemical Tool for Uncovering Carboxylesterase 1 (CES1) Activity Variations in Live Cells
- Human Carboxylesterases and Fluorescent Probes to Image Their Activity in Live Cells
Goals: Our group will generate new modular chemical technologies that can deliver probes and other cargoes to specific subcellular compartments in human cells. These new approaches will then be used to develop target chemical tools to specific compartments to study their (bio)chemistry.
Training Opportunities: Students on projects in this area will gain experience in organic synthesis, peptide and peptoid synthesis, molecular docking, fluorescence microscopy, traditional medicinal chemistry techniques including structure-activity relationships, and mammalian cell culture in addition to various biochemical, molecular biology, bioanalytical, and biophysical approaches.
Impacts: The new versatile and modular subcellular targeting methods we develop will allow for more detailed studies of the role of these organelles in human health. A better understanding of the biology of these organelles paired with our intracellular delivery approaches will enable the development of improved chemical tools and therapeutics.
Publications: Coming soon!
Professional Affiliations
Member, American Chemical Society
Member, American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Member, American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
Member, Illinois State Academy of Science (ISAS)