Lara K. Mahal Associate Professor of Chemistry B.A., University of California at Santa Cruz, Phi Beta Kappa Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley Postdoctoral Fellow, Sloan-Kettering Institute Email: lkmahal@nyu.edu Phone:  212-998-3533 Personal Homepage:  http://research.cm.utexas.edu/lmahal/

Areas of Research/Interest: Chemical Biology, Glycomics, Molecular Recognition, Organic Chemistry.

Research Description: Carbohydrates are critical in a myriad of important biological processes including intra-cellular communication, inflammation and bacterial and viral infections. Despite mounting evidence for the impact of glycosylation in modern biology,the complexity of glycoforms and the lack of methods to observe them hinder our understanding of these biomolecules. Our laboratory merges chemistry and biology to create and apply new methods to the study of glycosylation. These include the creation and utilization of new probes for glycosylation, cellular sensors and array technologies. We focus on three major areas of interest 1 The study of beta-O-N-acetyl-D-glucosamine function,a cytosolic carbohydrate modification analogous to phosphorylation, using new in vivo and in vitro methods 2 Invention of novel tools and methods for the profiling of cell-surface carbohydrate compositions 3 Application of bioinformatic and systems-based approaches to understanding the role of carbohydrates in metastasisand microbial pathogenesis.

Select Publications:

Hsu, K.-L.; Gildersleeve, J.C.; Mahal, L.K. A simple strategy for the creation of a recombinant lectin microarray, Mol. BioSystems, 2008, 4, 654-662.

Mahal, L.K.  Glycomics: Towards Bioinformatic Approaches to Understanding Glycosylation, Anti-Cancer Agents Med. Chem. 2008, 8, 37-51.

Pilobello, K.T.; Slawek, D.; Mahal, L.K.  A ratiometric lectin microarray approach to analysis of the dynamic mammalian glycome, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, 2007, 104, 10534-10539.

Carrillo, L.D.; Krishnamoorthy, L.; Mahal, L.K. A Cellular FRET Sensor for β-O-GlcNAc, a Dynamic Carbohydrate Modification Involved in Signaling, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2006, 128, 14768-14769.

Hsu, K.-L.; Pilobello, K.T; Mahal, L.K.  Analyzing the dynamic bacterial glycome with a lectin microarray approach.  Nat. Chem. Biol.  2006, 2, 153-157.

Sanki, A.; Mahal, L.K.  A One-Step Synthesis of Azide-Tagged Carbohydrates: Versatile Intermediates for Glycotechnology. Synlett  2006, 3, 455-459.

Pilobello, K.T.; Krishnamoorthy, L.; Slawek, D.; Mahal, L.K.  Development of a Lectin Microarray for the Rapid Analysis of Protein Glycopatterns.  ChemBioChem  2005, 6, 985-989.

Fellowships/Honors: University of California, Regents Scholar (1993-1995), ACS Division of Medicinal Chemistry Predoctoral Fellow (1998-1999), Jane Coffin Childs Cancer Research Fellow (2000-2003), Beckman Young Investigator (2004-2007), NSF-CAREER Award (2007-present), Sloan Foundation Fellow (2008-present), NIH Director's Innovator Award (2008-present).