RESEARCH INTERESTS:
Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) is a serine hydrolase whose primary function is the hydrolysis of acetylcholine at cholinergic synapses of animals. Humans and other vertebrates have another evolutionarily related cholinesterase, butyrylcholinesterase (BChE), which appears to act as a scavenger of a variety of toxins in the body. Cholinesterases (ChEs) are of considerable physiological, pharmacological, toxicological, and insecticidal interest. My laboratory has been interested in the structure, function, and evolution of the cholinesterases - acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE). We have been particularly interested in the evolution of the molecular basis of substrate and inhibitor specificity of AChE and BChE in the animal kingdom, with its implications for insecticides, and the evolutionary appearance of the heterologous, tailed forms in craniates.
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Esther: Analysis of sequences of the superfamily of hydrolases homologous to cholinesterases.