Shahriar Mobashery
Navari Family Professor in Life Sciences
- Office
- 354B McCourtney Hall - West
Notre Dame, IN 46556 - mobashery@nd.edu
Research Areas
- Biochemistry
- Organic Chemistry
Research Specialties
- Life Processes
- Medicine
- Synthesis
Prospective Graduate Students
Biography
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 2003-present | Navari Family Professor in Life Sciences, University of Notre Dame |
| 1997-2003 | Professor, Wayne State University |
| 1994-1997 | Associate Professor, Wayne State University |
| 1989-1994 | Assistant Professor, Wayne State University |
| 1986-1988 | Postdoctoral Research Associate, Rockefeller University |
| 1985 | Ph.D. in Chemistry, University of Chicago |
| 1981 | B.S. in Chemistry, University of Southern California |
| 1980 | B.S. in Biological Sciences, University of Southern California |
Selected Awards
2019 Emil Thomas Kaiser Award
2014-2016 Fellow, Science Without Borders, Brazil
2012 Research Achievement Award, University of Notre Dame
2007 Astellas USA Foundation Award of the American Chemical Society
2007 Fellow, America Association for the Advancement of Science
1999-2001 Charles H. Gershenson Distinguished Faculty Fellow
Research Interests
The Mobashery research program integrates computation, biochemistry, molecular biology, and the organic synthesis of medically important molecules. Bringing together these different disciplines is desirable to produce both scientific and medical advances for difficult, but critically important clinical problems.
Bacterial Antibiotic Resistance, Cell Wall and Discovery of Novel Antibiotics
The studies of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance are central themes in the Mobashery laboratory. Mechanisms of resistance to β-lactam antibiotics have been studied, with a focus on methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa as two nefarious human bacterial pathogens. A multidisciplinary approach is taken towards elucidating the distinct strategies that nature has devised to counter the use of antibiotics in the clinic. Significant work has also been directed towards the bacterial cell wall. The cell wall is a structure that encases the entire organism, and it is critically important for its survival. Its complex biosynthesis and recycling are subjects of study. Discovery of novel antibacterials is another large focus of attention.
Diseases of the Extracellular Matrix
The Mobashery laboratory is interested in diseases of the extracellular matrix (ECM). The ECM is an environment that surrounds every cell in higher organisms. There are many proteins and carbohydrates within this environment, whose homeostasis is highly regulated. When these regulatory processes break down, many disparate diseases ensue. The Mobashery lab investigates how these diseases develop and progress, and designs novel therapeutics for their intervention. The diseases of matrix of interest in the Mobashery lab include diabetes, pulmonary fibrosis, traumatic-brain injury and stroke.
Selected Publications
- El-Araby, A. M.; de Jose, U. P.; Miguel-Ruano, V.; Lee, M.; Feltzer, R.; Avila-Cobian, L. F.; Hesek, D.; Fisher, J. F.; Hermoso, J. A. and Mobashery, S. "Outer Membrane-Peptidoglycan Anchoring in Pseudomonas aeruginosa" 2026 Journal of the American Chemical Society, in press. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.6c03160.
- Auberger, N.; El-Araby, A. M.; Van Tran, T.; Feltzer, R.; Poveda, A.; Jiménez-Barbero, J.; Mobashery, S. and Blériot, Y. "Ring Opening, Conformational Analysis and NagZ Inhibition of a GlcNAc-Configured Iminosugar-Derived Aziridine" 2026 Carbohydrate Research, 564, 109899. DOI: 10.1016/j.carres.2026.109899.
- Dominguez-Cisneros, H.; Konai, M. M.; Kim, C.; Rana, N.; Feltzer, R.; Janardhanan, J.; El-Araby, A. M.; Nguyen, V.; Fisher, J. F.; Chang, M. Y. and Mobashery, S. "Antibacterial Benzimidazole-2-Methanamines as Allosteric Modulators of Streptococcus pneumoniae Penicillin-Binding Protein 2x" 2026 Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 69 (2), pp.1085–1099. DOI: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.5c02273.
- Yang, Q. Y.; Shit, P.; Nguyen, V.; Oliver, A. G.; Fisher, J. F. and Mobashery, S. "A Concise Route to Orthogonally Protected Bulgecinine" 2026 Journal of Organic Chemistry, 91 (1), pp.822–825. DOI: 10.1021/acs.joc.5c02804.
- Thomas, C. A.; Kim, C.; El-Araby, A. M.; Birhanu, B. T.; Nguyen, V.; Schroeder, V. A.; Fisher, J. F.; Chang, M. Y. and Mobashery, S. "Discovery and Evaluation of a Methylpyrazolopyrimidine Antibacterial Active Against Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus" 2025 ACS Infectious Diseases, 11 (11), pp.3276–3285. DOI: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.5c00685.
- Nguyen, V. T.; Birhanu, B. T.; Miguel-Ruano, V.; Kim, C.; Batuecas, M.; Yang, J. D.; El-Araby, A. M.; Jiménez-Faraco, E.; Schroeder, V. A.; Alba, A.; Rana, N.; Sader, S.; Thomas, C. A.; Feltzer, R.; Lee, M.; Fisher, J. F.; Hermoso, J. A.; Chang, M. and Mobashery, S. "Restoring Susceptibility to β-Lactam Antibiotics in Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus" 2025 Nature Chemical Biology, 21 (4), pp.482-489. DOI: 10.1038/s41589-024-01688-0.