Update Your ProfileAcademic Title:
Professor
Primary Appointment:
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Secondary Appointment(s):
Medicine
Administrative Title:
Director, Center For Biomolecular Therapeutics
Additional Title:
Marlene & Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center (UMGCCC) Co-Director, Structural Biology Shared Service (SBSS), UMGCCC
Email:
Location:
108 N. Greene St., Room 439
Phone (Primary):
(410) 706-4354
Phone (Secondary):
(410) 706-6085 (NMR Center)
Education and Training
- Muhlenberg College, BS, Chemistry, 1984
- University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, PhD, Chemistry, 1988
- Postdoctoral Fellowship, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, 1988-1992
Biosketch
As director of the Center for Biomolecular Therapeutics (CBT) at the University of Maryland, Dr. Weber manages state-of-the-art scientific studies that examine mechanisms involved in disease states, and then develops drugs to treat them. Structural biology techniques used are NMR, X-ray crystallography, and single particle cryoEM, as are other biophysical, biochemical, and molecular biology methods for answering mechanistic questions at atomic resolution. Major findings of the lab show how dynamic properties affect biomolecular complexes, including their high degree of specificity, allostery, and functional folding processes associated their biological output(s). The answers to these basic science questions directly impact the therapeutic development projects ongoing. Of major interest is to understand how protein complexes in normal and disease states are regulated. Dr. Weber’s laboratory is one of many in the CBT developing small-molecule inhibitors geared to treat diseases, including in cancer, diabetes, and infectious disease. Dr. Weber has authored more than 150 peer-reviewed research articles involving basic science and biomedical therapeutics advances.
Research/Clinical Keywords
Calcium-signaling, calcium-binding proteins, tumor suppression, cancer biology, structural biology, bacterial and other toxins, infectious disease
Awards and Affiliations
- Distinguished University Professor, University of Maryland, Baltimore
- MPowering the State Professorship
- Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Young Investigator Award, 1992
- Junior Faculty Research Award, American Cancer Society, 1996
- Research Scholar Award, American Cancer Society, 2004
- Elected faculty representative for the Executive Council in the School of Medicine, 2009
- Honorary Faculty Member, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy, 2012-present
Grants and Contracts
National Institutes of Health (R01 CA285468)
MPI: Carrier, F. (contact). MPIs, Weber, D.J., Fletcher, S. “First in Class Small molecules to simultaneously inhibit protein translation and an immune checkpoint in cancers”
National Institutes of Health (R01 EY027405)
PI: Felippo Mancia; CoI: Weber, D.J. “Structural basis of receptor-mediated cellular vitamin A uptake”
National Institutes of Health (U01GM152511)
PI: Rose, R.J (contact). MPIs, Steiner, K.V., Weber, D.J.“University of Maryland Baltimore Life Science Discovery (UM-BILD) Accelerator”
National Institute of Standards and Technology (60NANB24D147)
PI: Weber, D.J. “Cryogenic electron microscope (upgrade)”
Lab Techniques and Equipment
Structural biology (NMR, X-ray, CryoEM), Biochemical, Biophysical, Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, and High-Throughput Screening techniques are used in the Weber Laboratory and in the Center for Biomolecular Therapeutics.