Dr. Bashkin received his B.A. in Chemistry from the University of California, Irvine, and his D.Phil. from Oxford, England. He was an NIH postdoctoral fellow at Harvard before joining Monsanto Corporate Research. He spent time with both Washington University and then again Monsanto (later Pharmacia and Pfizer) prior to joining UMSL in 1999 where he is now Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry.
Research Interests
My group’s research has recently been directed to the interface of chemistry and biology, in areas such as "chemical genomics," the design of antiviral and anticancer agents and Green Chemistry. Much of this work involves the chemical synthesis and biochemical testing of sequence-specific DNA binding molecules designed to control gene expression. Our main goals are the invention of new chemical methods to treat and diagnose diseases and the invention of new chemical reactions to eliminate toxic waste and other undesirable features of traditional chemistry.
In addition to this biological chemistry, I have maintained a strong interest in environmentally-benign organic chemistry, known as Green Chemistry. This work involves developing organic reactions that eliminated toxic waste associated with traditional processes.
Selected Recent Publications
"Effects of head group substitution on large antiviral polyamide-DNA binding kinetics", J. Niederschulte, Y. Song, T. G. Edwards, G. D. Harris, K. J. Koeller, C. J. Fisher, J. K. Bashkin and C. M. Dupureur, Biochimie 2026, 246, 100..
"Size matters: DNA binding site kinetics as a function of polyamide size," J.Niederschulte, Y. Song, J. K. Bashkin and C. M. Dupureur, Biochimie, 2022, 199, 123.
″Oligonucleotides containing abasic threoninol-terpyridine residues as potential artificial ribonucleases,″ W. C. Putnam and J. K. Bashkin, J. Inorg. Biochem.2022, 232, 111831.
″DNA binding site kinetics of a large antiviral polyamide,″ J. Niederschulte, Y. Song, A. H. Park, J. K. Bashkin and C. M. Dupureur, Biochemie, 2021, 185, 146.
″Modulating DNA by polyamides to regulate transcription factor PU.1-DNA binding interactions″, B. Liu, J. K. Bashkin, G. M. K. Poon, S. Wang, S. Wang and D. W. Wilson, Biochimie, 2019, 167, 1
″DNA binding thermodynamics and site stoichiometry as a function of polyamide size″, Y. Song, J. Niederschulte, K. N. Bales, A. H. Park, J. K. Bashkin and C. M. Dupureur, Biochimie, 2019, 165, 170
