Joe Meisel is making a name for himself at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. First he received for the beer brewing course he designed and implemented as a UMSL doctoral student in . Now he is the winner of the 2015 Ciel DeGutis Award for Research Excellence.
And it’s not for beer science, as one may think, but rather for his work in supramolecular chemistry, which examines how separate molecules interact with each other. Meisel has been researching membrane transport, the process of inserting compounds into a molecule past the cell’s protective membrane layer. He specifically focuses on inserting into the molecule, a process called “,” but the process can be used to introduce antibiotics as well.
“The whole goal of it is twofold,” Meisel said. “One, getting DNA into a cell is useful for biology researchers to test the functions of genes. Second, it’s also kind of a step away from gene therapy, so using DNA to cure genetic diseases.
“DNA is kind of this magic molecule that’s responsible for so much of what we are and who we are, so understanding how certain chemicals interact with DNA and how we can use DNA to cure disease, I find that incredibly interesting.”
His research, while at the very first stages of that process, will hopefully lead to progress toward curing genetic diseases like cystic fibrosis, Huntington’s disease and muscular dystrophy, to name a few.
Reviewed 2015-06-10