Michael S. Wolfe
- Mathias P. Mertes Professor of Medicinal Chemistry
- Department of Medicinal Chemistry
Contact Info
1567 Irving Hill, Rd.
Lawrence, KS 66045
Personal Links
Biography —
Professor Michael S. Wolfe joined the faculty of the University of Tennessee in Memphis in 1994. In 1999, he moved to Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where his work focused on understanding the molecular basis of Alzheimer’s and related disorders and identifying effective approaches for pharmacological intervention He became Professor of Neurology in 2008. He joined the KU faculty in October of 2016 as the Mathias P. Mertes Professor of Medicinal Chemistry.
Professional Experience
- Assistant Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Tennessee (1994-1998)
- Associate Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Tennessee (1998-1999)
- Associate Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School (1999-2008)
- Associate Scientist, Center for Neurologic Diseases, Brigham and Women’s Hospital (1999-2008)
- Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School (2008-2016)
- Scientist, Center for Neurologic Diseases, Brigham and Women’s Hospital (2008-2016)
- Mathias P. Mertes Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Kansas (2016-present)
Education —
Selected Publications —
Liu Y, Rodriguez L, Wolfe MS. Template-directed synthesis of a small molecule-antisense conjugate targeting an mRNA structure. Bioorg. Chem. 2014; 54:7-11.
Holmes O, Paturi S, Wolfe MS, Selkoe DJ. Functional analysis and purification of a Pen-2 fusion protein for γ-secretase structural studies. J. Neurochem. 2014; 131(1):94-100
Holmes O, Paturi S, Selkoe DJ, Wolfe MS. Pen-2 is essential for γ-secretase complex stability and trafficking but partially dispensable for endoproteolysis. Biochemistry. 2014; 53(27):4393-406.
Fernandez MA, Klutkowski JA, Freret T, Wolfe MS. Alzheimer Presenilin-1 Mutations Dramatically Reduce Trimming of Long Amyloid β-Peptides (Aβ) by γ-Secretase to Increase 42-to-40-Residue Aβ. J Biol Chem 2014; 289(45):31043-52.
Park HJ, Ran Y, Jung JI, Holmes O, Price AR, Smithson L, Ceballos-Diaz C, Han C, Wolfe MS, Daaka Y, Ryabinin AE, Kim SH, Hauger RL, Golde TE, Felsenstein KM. The stress response neuropeptide CRF increases amyloid-β production by regulating γ-secretase activity. EMBO J 2015; 34(12): 1674-86.
Bolduc DM, Montagna DR, Gu Y, Selkoe DJ, Wolfe MS. Nicastrin functions to sterically hinder γ-secretase-substrate interactions driven by substrate transmembrane domain. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2016 113(5):E509-18.
Lu D, Wei HX, Zhang J, Gu Y, Osenkowski P, Ye W, Selkoe DJ, Wolfe MS, Augelli-Szafran CE. Part 1: Notch-sparing γ-secretase inhibitors: The identification of novel naphthyl and benzofuranyl amide analogs. Bioorg Med Chem Lett 2016, 26(9):2129-32.
Wei HX, Lu D, Sun V, Zhang J, Gu Y, Osenkowski P, Ye W, Selkoe DJ, Wolfe MS, Augelli-Szafran CE. Part 2. Notch-sparing γ-secretase inhibitors: The study of novel γ-amino naphthyl alcohols. Bioorg Med Chem Lett 2016, 26(9):2133-37.
Zhang J, Lu D, Wei HX, Gu Y, Selkoe DJ, Wolfe MS, Augelli-Szafran CE. Part 3: Notch-sparing γ-secretase inhibitors: SAR studies of 2-substituted aminopyridopyrimidinones. Bioorg Med Chem Lett 2016, 26(9):2138-41.
Bolduc DM, Montagna DR, Seghers MC, Wolfe MS, Selkoe DJ. The amyloid-beta forming tripeptide cleavage mechanism of γ-secretase. eLife 2016, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.17578
Fernandez MA, Biette K, Dolios G, Seth D, Wang R, Wolfe MS. Transmembrane substrate determinants for γ-secretase processing of APP CTF-β. Biochemistry 2016,55(40):5675-5688.
Awards & Honors —
- Sato Memorial International Award in Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry from the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan (2003)
- MetLife Award for Biomedical Research (2008)
- Zenith Fellows Award from the Alzheimer’s Association (2008)
- Potamkin Prize from the American Academy of Neurology (2009)