Alexander Mankin

Alexander Mankin. Photo: UIC Photo Services (select image to download)

Alexander “Shura” Mankin studies the mechanisms of protein synthesis and drug resistance to develop new, superior antibiotics.

Mankin’s research focuses on the functions of the ribosome and how it can be inhibited by drugs. His laboratory has established modes of action of several important classes of antibiotics. His team has also engineered ribosomes for synthetic biology that do not exist in nature.

Mankin and his colleagues are working to discover how antibiotics bind to the ribosome, which churns out all the proteins a cell needs for survival, and how they interfere with its function.

Throughout his career, Mankin has published more than 150 papers in leading journals. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and other funding agencies.

He was the first recipient of the UIC Basic Life Sciences Researcher of the Year Award. He also received the Paul R. Dawson Biotechnology Award from the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy in 2013 and was named a Fellow by the American Academy of Microbiology in 2014.

Subject Areas

• Molecular biology
• Microbiology
• Synthetic biology