Faculty Profile

Peter A Beal
Professor
Chemistry
Chemistry Annex, Davis, CA 95616
Office +1 530 752 4132
Lab
beal@chem.ucdavis.edu
[Picture of Peter A Beal]

Degrees:
1994 - PhD - California Institute of Technology - Chemistry
1989 - BS - University of North Dakota - Chemistry

Awards:
NIH First Award, 1998
Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, 2002
Robert A. Parry Teaching Award, 2005
NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship, Harvard University, '94-'96

Department and Center Affiliations:
Department of Chemistry

Professional Societies:
American Chemical Society (Organic, Biological and Med. Chem. Divisions)
RNA Society

Grad Group Affiliations and Specialties:
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Non-DBS Grad Group(s) - Chemistry (Letters and Science)

Publications:
"Probing Adenosine to Inosine Editing Reactions Using RNA Containing Nucleoside Analogs" Olena Maydanovych, LaHoma M. Easterwood, Tao Cui, Eduardo A. Véliz, Subhash Pokharel, and Peter A. Beal, Methods Enzmol. 2007, (in press).

"High throughput screening for functional A to I RNA editing systems" Subhash Pokharel and Peter A. Beal, ACS Chem. Biol. 2006, 1, 12, 761-765.

"Controlling Activation of the RNA-dependent Protein Kinase by siRNAs using Site-specific Chemical Modification" Sujiet Puthenveetil, Landon Whitby, Kevin Kelnar, Joseph F. Krebs, and Peter A. Beal, Nucleic Acids Res. 2006, 34, 17, 4900-4911.

"Breaking the Central Dogma by RNA editing" Olena Maydanovych and Peter A. Beal, Chem. Rev. 2006, 106, 3397-3411.

"Binding of Helix-Threading Peptides to E. coli 16S Ribosomal RNA and Inhibition of the S15-16S Complex" Barry D. Gooch, Malathy Krishnamurthy, Mohammed Shadid, and Peter A. Beal, ChemBioChem, 2005, 6, 12, 2247-2254.

"Duplex RNA-binding Enzymes: Headliners from Neurobiology, Virology, and Development" Peter A. Beal, ChemBioChem, 2005, 2, 6, 257-266.

"A Transition State Analog for an RNA-editing Reaction" Brittany L. Haudenschild, Olena Maydanovych, Eduardo A. Véliz, Mark R. Macbeth, Brenda L. Bass and Peter A. Beal, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2004 , 126, 11213-11219.

"Recognition of Duplex RNA by Helix-Threading Peptides" Barry D. Gooch and Peter A. Beal, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2004 , 126, 10603-10610.

"Peptide Quinoline Conjugates: A new class of RNA binding molecules" Malathy Krishnamurthy, Barry D. Gooch and Peter A. Beal, Org. Lett., 2004, 6, 1, 63-66.

"Substrate Analogues for an RNA-editing Adenosine Deaminase: Mechanistic Investigation and Inhibitor Design" Eduardo A. Véliz, LaHoma M. Easterwood and Peter A. Beal, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2003, 125, 36, 10867-10876.

"Small Molecule Inhibitors of the RNA-dependent Protein Kinase PKR" Narasimham V. Jammi, Landon R. Whitby and Peter A. Beal, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm., 2003, 308, 1, 50-57.

"Preferred RNA Binding Sites for a Threading Intercalator Revealed by In Vitro Evolution" Coby B. Carlson, Momchilo Vuyisich, Barry D. Gooch and Peter A. Beal, Chem. Biol., 2003, 10, 7, 663-672.

"Controlling protein activity with ligand-regulated RNA aptamers" Momchilo Vuyisich and Peter A. Beal, Chem. Biol., 2002, 9, 907-913.

"The Binding Site of the RNA-dependent Protein Kinase (PKR) on EBER1 RNA from Epstein Barr Virus" Momchilo Vuyisich, Richard J. Spanggord and Peter A. Beal, EMBO rep., 2002, 3, 7, 622-627.

"6-Bromopurine Ribonucleosides as Reagents for Nucleoside Analog Synthesis" Eduardo A. Véliz and Peter A. Beal, J. Org. Chem., 2001, 66, 8592-8598.

"Conformational changes that occur during an RNA-editing adenosine deamination reaction" Hye Young Yi-Brunozzi, Olen M. Stephens and Peter A. Beal, J. Biol. Chem., 2001, 276, 41, 37827.

"Phosphorylation of the RNA-dependent Protein Kinase Regulates Its RNA Binding" Narasimham V. Jammi and Peter A. Beal, Nucleic Acids Res., 2001, 29, 14, 3020.

"Demethylation of 6-O-Methylinosine by an RNA-editing Adenosine Deaminase" LaHoma M. Easterwood, Eduardo A. Véliz and Peter A. Beal, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2000, 122, 46, 11537.

"Analysis of the RNA-editing Reaction of ADAR2 with Structural and Fluorescent Analogs of the GluR-B R/G Editing Site" Olen M. Stephens, Hye Young Yi-Brunozzi and Peter A. Beal, Biochemistry, 2000, 39, 40, 12243.

"Control of p70 S6 kinase by FRAP kinase activity in vivo" Eric J. Brown, Peter A. Beal, Curtis T. Keith, Jie Chen, Tae Bum Shin, and Stuart L. Schreiber, Nature, 1995, 377, 441.

"Second Structural Motif for Recognition of DNA by Oligonucleotide-Directed Triple Helix Formation" Peter A. Beal and Peter B. Dervan, Science, 1991, 251, 1360.

Research Interests:
The Beal laboratory of chemical biology uses synthetic chemistry and synthetic biology to study and control ribonucleic acids (RNAs). RNAs are structurally complex biopolymers whose proper function is central to all life including bacteria, viruses and humans. Our work is advancing the understanding of essential basic science principles of RNA structure and recognition and is providing a platform for the development of new medicines targeting RNA or RNA-binding proteins. We create new RNA molecules by chemical synthesis with nucleoside analogs, introducing novel and desirable features. In addition, new small molecules are synthesized that are capable of perturbing natural RNA function or the function of RNA-modifying enzymes. Finally, directed evolution carried out in our lab generates new RNA structures and new RNA-modifying enzymes with valuable properties. We have applied these approaches to the study of RNA-editing adenosine deaminases, RNA interference by short interfering RNAs (siRNAs), the RNA-dependent protein kinase (PKR), and RNA-targeted threading intercalators.

Laboratory Personnel:
Chemistry Annex, 5th floor - Malathy Krishnamurthy Olena Maydanovych Subhash Pokharel Jin Ren Kaivalya Risbud Hayden Peacock Kerry Masterson Nicole Shirle

Teaching Interests:


Peter Beal teaches classroom courses in the area of organic chemistry, biochemistry and chemical biology. In the laboratory, students are exposed to modern synthetic chemistry techniques as well as techniques from biochemistry, molecular and cellular biology. Beal group research applies chemical priniciples (e.g. synthesis of new chemical entities) to the study of biology.

Courses Taught:
CH 128A Organic Chemistry for majors - Term(s): Fall
CH 135A Pharmaceutical Chemistry - Term(s): Winter
MCB 221A Physical Biochemistry - Term(s): Fall
CH 221C Nucleic Acids Chemical Biology - Term(s): Spring
CH 118B Organic Chemistry - Term(s): Spring