C. Denise Okafor - Penn State Cancer Institute
Researcher Profile
C. Denise Okafor
Assistant Professor, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Scientific Program:Mechanisms of Carcinogenesis
Research Interests
- Ligands
- Cytoplasmic and Nuclear Receptors
- Proteins
- Liver
- Iron
- Enzymes
- RNA
- Transcription Factors
- Molecular Dynamics Simulation
- Steroid Receptors
- DNA
- Phospholipids
Recent Publications
2024
Glasser, NR, Cui, D, Risser, DD, Okafor, CD & Balskus, EP 2024, 'Accelerating the discovery of alkyl halide-derived natural products using halide depletion', Nature Chemistry, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 173-182. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41557-023-01390-z
Hazarika, S, Fehrle, M & Okafor, CD 2024, 'How nuclear receptors transition between active and inactive forms: An energetic perspective', Journal of Chemical Physics, vol. 160, no. 11, 115102. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0189234
2023
Dube, N, Khan, SH, Sasse, R & Okafor, CD 2023, 'Identification of an Evolutionarily Conserved Allosteric Network in Steroid Receptors', Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling, vol. 63, no. 2, pp. 571-582. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jcim.2c01096
Mays, SG, Hercules, D, Ortlund, EA & Okafor, CD 2023, 'The nuclear receptor LRH-1 discriminates between ligands using distinct allosteric signaling circuits', Protein Science, vol. 32, no. 10, e4754. https://doi.org/10.1002/pro.4754
Surrett, ED, Guckes, KR, Cousins, S, Ruskoski, TB, Cecere, AG, Ludvik, DA, Okafor, CD, Mandel, MJ & Miyashiro, TI 2023, 'Two enhancer binding proteins activate σ54-dependent transcription of a quorum regulatory RNA in a bacterial symbiont', eLife, vol. 12, e78544. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.78544
2022
Mays, SG, D'Agostino, EH, Flynn, AR, Huang, X, Wang, G, Liu, X, Millings, EJ, Okafor, CD, Patel, A, Cato, ML, Cornelison, JL, Melchers, D, Houtman, R, Moore, DD, Calvert, JW, Jui, NT & Ortlund, EA 2022, 'A phospholipid mimetic targeting LRH-1 ameliorates colitis', Cell Chemical Biology, vol. 29, no. 7, pp. 1174-1186.e7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chembiol.2022.03.001
Collins, SL, Stine, JG, Bisanz, JE, Okafor, CD & Patterson, AD 2023, 'Bile acids and the gut microbiota: metabolic interactions and impacts on disease', Nature Reviews Microbiology, vol. 21, no. 4, pp. 236-247. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-022-00805-x
Cato, ML, Cornelison, JL, Spurlin, RM, Courouble, VV, Patel, AB, Flynn, AR, Johnson, AM, Okafor, CD, Frank, F, D'Agostino, EH, Griffin, PR, Jui, NT & Ortlund, EA 2022, 'Differential Modulation of Nuclear Receptor LRH-1 through Targeting Buried and Surface Regions of the Binding Pocket', Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, vol. 65, no. 9, pp. 6888-6902. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.2c00235
Russell, TJ, De Silva, EK, Crowley, VM, Shaw-Saliba, K, Dube, N, Josling, G, Pasaje, CFA, Kouskoumvekaki, I, Panagiotou, G, Niles, JC, Jacobs-Lorena, M, Okafor, CD, Gamo, FJ & Llinás, M 2022, 'Inhibitors of ApiAP2 protein DNA binding exhibit multistage activity against Plasmodium parasites', PLoS pathogens, vol. 18, no. 10, e1010887. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1010887
Khan, SH & Okafor, CD 2022, 'Interactions governing transcriptional activity of nuclear receptors', Biochemical Society transactions, vol. 50, no. 6, pp. 1941-1952. https://doi.org/10.1042/BST20220338
Khan, SH, Braet, SM, Koehler, SJ, Elacqua, E, Anand, GS & Okafor, CD 2022, 'Ligand-induced shifts in conformational ensembles that describe transcriptional activation', eLife, vol. 11, e80140. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.80140
Braffman, NR, Ruskoski, TB, Davis, KM, Glasser, NR, Johnson, C, Okafor, CD, Boal, AK & Balskus, EP 2022, 'Structural Basis for an Unprecedented Enzymatic Alkylation in Cylindrocyclophane Biosynthesis', eLife, vol. 11, e75761. https://doi.org/10.7554/ELIFE.75761
2021
Dube, N, Khan, SH & Okafor, CD 2022, 'Ancestral sequence reconstruction for evolutionary characterization of proteins', Trends in Biochemical Sciences, vol. 47, no. 1, pp. 98-99. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tibs.2021.10.009
McBride, MJ, Pope, SR, Hu, K, Denise Okafor, C, Balskus, EP, Martin Bollinger, J & Boal, AK 2021, 'Structure and assembly of the diiron cofactor in the heme-oxygenase–like domain of the N-nitrosourea–producing enzyme SznF', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 118, no. 4, e2015931118. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2015931118
2020
Tillman, MC, Imai, N, Li, Y, Khadka, M, Okafor, CD, Juneja, P, Adhiyaman, A, Hagen, SJ, Cohen, DE & Ortlund, EA 2020, 'Allosteric regulation of thioesterase superfamily member 1 by lipid sensor domain binding fatty acids and lysophosphatidylcholine', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 117, no. 36, pp. 22080-22089. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2003877117
Guth-Metzler, R, Bray, MS, Frenkel-Pinter, M, Suttapitugsakul, S, Montllor-Albalate, C, Bowman, JC, Wu, R, Reddi, AR, Okafor, CD, Glass, JB & Williams, LD 2020, 'Cutting in-line with iron: ribosomal function and non-oxidative RNA cleavage', Nucleic acids research, vol. 48, no. 15, pp. 8663-8674. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkaa586
Okafor, CD, Hercules, D, Kell, SA & Ortlund, EA 2020, 'Rewiring Ancient Residue Interaction Networks Drove the Evolution of Specificity in Steroid Receptors', Structure, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 196-205.e3. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.str.2019.11.012
Moody, JC, Qadota, H, Reedy, AR, Okafor, CD, Shanmugan, N, Matsunaga, Y, Christian, CJ, Ortlund, EA & Benian, GM 2020, 'The Rho-GEF PIX-1 directs assembly or stability of lateral attachment structures between muscle cells', Nature communications, vol. 11, no. 1, 5010. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18852-4