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Luke H. Bradley, PhD

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859-323-1826
lhbradley@uky.edu
MN 214 Medical Sciences Bldg

Positions

  • Regular Faculty
  • Acting Chair

College Unit(s)

Biography and Education

Biography

Dr. Luke H. Bradley completed his undergraduate studies at Ohio University and received his Ph.D. in biochemistry from Ohio State University. He was a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Michael Hecht at Princeton University, where his studies focused on synthetic biology/protein chemistry and design. Dr. Bradley is currently a Chellgren Endowed Professor and Acting Chair of the Department of Neuroscience. He is also affiliated with the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, University of Kentucky’s Lewis Honors College, Neuroscience Major, Center of Structural Biology, and Brain Restoration Center. Dr. Bradley’s research interests include the discovery and development of novel, synthetic peptide- and protein-based molecular platforms for diagnostics and biotherapeutics. He also has been involved in numerous community P12 STEM educational and outreach activities, including: volunteering at local science & career fairs, volunteering with the Girl Scouts & 4H, and serving on school advisory/site-based decision making councils at the middle school and high school levels. He founded the UK START Program, which is an University-Community partnership that works towards the recruitment and retention of first generation and underrepresented populations in STEM by providing year-round research opportunities and professional development activities for high school students and teachers on the University of Kentucky Campus. Finally, he is serving as the University of Kentucky representative on the Kentucky Council of Postsecondary Education Faculty Advisory Network.

Education

BS, Chemistry/Biochemistry, Ohio University Ph.D., Biochemistry, Ohio State University Postdoctoral Training, Princeton University

Research

Peptide and protein scaffolds for biotherapeutic discovery and development Research in the Bradley laboratory (https://lhbradley1.wixsite.com/bradleylab) utilizes approaches at the interface of chemistry, biochemistry, and neurobiology to discover and develop peptide and protein-based molecules as platforms for various medical, biotechnical, and biotherapeutic applications. UK START Program The UK START Program (https://www.uky.edu/start/) is an University-Community partnership that works towards the recruitment and retention of first generation and underrepresented populations in STEM by providing year-round research opportunities and professional development activities for high school students and teachers on the University of Kentucky Campus.

Selected Publications

Fuqua JL, Littrell OM, Lundblad M, Turchan-Cholewo J, Abdelmoti LG, Galperin E, Bradley LH, Cass WA, Gash DM, Gerhardt GA. (2014) Dynamic Changes in the Dopamine Neuron Function after DNSP-11 Treatment: Effects in vivo and Increased ERK 1/2 Phosphorylation in vitro. Peptides 54: 1-8. Hardy PA, Keeley D, Schorn G, Forman, E, Ai Y, Zhang Z, Bradley LH. (2013) Convection enhanced delivery of gadolinium-tagged polylysine. J Neuroscience Methods, 219: 169-175. Littrell OM, Fuqua JF, Richardson AD, Turchan-Cholewo J, Hascup ER, Huettl P, Pomerleau F, Bradley LH, Gash DM, Gerhardt GA. (2013) A synthetic five amino acid GDNF propeptide increases dopamine neuron differentiation and neurochemical function. Neuropeptides, 47: 43-49. Magnani R, Chaffin B, Dick E, Bricken ML, Houtz RL, Bradley LH. (2012) Utilization of a calmodulin lysine methyltransferase co-expression system for the generation of a combinatorial library of post-translationally modified proteins. Protein Expression & Purification, 86: 83-88. Sexton T, Boock LJ, Rodgers DR, Bradley LH, Hersh LB. (2012) Active site mutations change the substrate cleavage specificity of neprilysin. PLoS ONE, 7(2): e32343. Arai R, Kobayashi N, Kimura A, Sato T, Wang AF, Platt JM, Bradley LH, Hecht MH. (2012) Domain-swapped dimeric structure of a de novo 4-helix bundle protein, WA20. J Phys Chem B, 116: 6569-7032. Bradley LH, Bricken ML, Randle C. (2011) Expression, purification, and characterization of proteins from high-quality combinatorial libraries of the mammalian calmodulin central linker. Protein Expression & Purification 75: 186-192. Kelps KA, Turchan-Cholewo J, Hascup ER, Taylor TL, Gash DM, Gerhardt GA, Bradley LH. (2011) Evaluation of the physical and in vitro protective activity of three synthetic peptides derived from the pro- and mature GDNF sequence. Neuropeptides 45(3): 213-218. Bradley LH, Fuqua J, Richardson A, Turchan-Cholewo J, Ai Y, Kelps KA, Glass J, He X, Zhang Z, Grondin R, Littrell OM, Gash DM, Gerhardt GA. (2010) Dopamine neuron stimulating actions of a GDNF propeptide. PLoS ONE 5(3): e9752. Patel SC, Bradley LH, Jinadasa SP, Hecht MH. (2009) Cofactor Binding and Enzymatic Activity in an Unevolved Superfamily of De Novo Designed 4-Helix Bundle Proteins. Protein Science, 18:1388-1400. Bradley LH, Thumfort PP, Hecht MH. (2006) De novo proteins from binary patterned combinatorial libraries. Methods Mol Biol 340: 53-69. Bradley LH, Kleiner RE, Wang AF, Hecht MH, Wood DW. (2005) An Intein-Based Genetic Selection Enables Construction of a High-Quality Library of Binary Patterned De Novo Protein Sequences. Protein Engineering, Design & Selection 18: 201-207.

Pubmed Publications