2025 2:02:25 PM

Wojcik, Edward, PhD

Associate Professor

Course Director; Medical Biochemistry

Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
533 Bolivar St
CSRB 320
New Orleans, LA 70112

Phone: (504) 568-2058
Lab: (504) 568-5572

ewojci@lsuhsc.edu

Degrees

EDUCATION:

Undergraduate    B.S., University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1984
Graduate           Ph.D., University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1994 

POSTDOCTORAL STUDY:
 
Dept. of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development, Univ. of Minnesota with Prof. Thomas S. Hays, 1997– 2000.
Dept. of Anatomy and Physiology, Univ. of Dundee, United Kingdom with Prof. David M. Glover, 1994 – 1996.

ACADEMIC, PROFESSIONAL, AND RESEARCH APPOINTMENTS:

2012 - present Associate Professor, LSU Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA
2005 - 2012     Assistant Professor, LSU HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER, New Orleans, LA
2005 - 2006     Visiting Scholar, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA
2002 - 2005     Visiting Assistant Professor, VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INST AND ST UNIV, Blacksburg, VA
1997 - 2000     Research Associate, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA, Minneapolis, MN
1994 - 1996     Research Associate, UNIVERSITY OF DUNDEE, Dundee

 

Research Interests

 

Under the hood of nanomotor proteins:  

2025 5:03:20 PM

My lab studies how these molecular machines work.  The kinesin family of motor proteins are essential for the life of all eukaryotic cells; anything that moves inside a cell, is moved by a motor protein along a cytoskeletal highway network.  In particular, the Kinesin-5 family is required for mitosis in all dividing cells and also plays a special role in (nondividing) neurons, particularly dendrites.  Unlike bipedal walker, Kinesin-1, Kinesin-5 forms a homotetramer that can crosslink, bundle, and slide microtubules to build higher order cellular machinery, such as the mitotic spindle.

 

2025 2:13:15 PMGIF based on a crystal structure (3HQD) we solved in-house.

The kinesin-5 motor domain is a highly allosteric system of converting free energy of ATP hydrolysis to mechanical work (illustrated by this GIF);  how does this system work?  Small next-gen anti-cancer molecules that have been designed to inhibit Kinesin-5, and thereby block cell division, are used in my lab as probes to help understand many different aspects of how these enzymes work.  Many of these inhibitors are allosteric, and we would like to know how they bind and impact the distal active site to halt motility.  Second, we would like to understand how these compounds can elicit very different outcomes with Kinesin-5 despite binding to the same allosteric binding site.  Third, we seek to clarify how Kinesin-5 is designed to cooperate with other kinesin motors which then assemble large-scale molecular structures such as the mitotic spindle and dendritic spines and connections.

2025 2:30:32 PM

 

 

 

Selected Publications

Dr. Wojcik's Publications
 

 

Kinesin-5: cross-bridging mechanism to targeted clinical therapy.

Wojcik E, Buckley RS, Richard J, Liu L, Huckaba TM, Kim S. Kinesin-5: cross-bridging mechanism to targeted clinical therapy. Gene [Internet]. 2013 Dec 1;531(2):133–49. Retrieved from: http://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=pubmed&id=23954229&retmode=ref&cmd=prlinks. PMCID: PMC3801170

 

Loop 5-directed compounds inhibit chimeric kinesin-5 motors: implications for conserved allosteric mechanisms.

Liu L, Parameswaran S, Liu J, Kim S, Wojcik E. Loop 5-directed compounds inhibit chimeric kinesin-5 motors: implications for conserved allosteric mechanisms. Journal of Biological Chemistry [Internet]. 2011 Feb 25;286(8):6201–10. Retrieved from: http://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=pubmed&id=21127071&retmode=ref&cmd=prlinks. PMCID: PMC3057856

 

ATP hydrolysis in Eg5 kinesin involves a catalytic two-water mechanism.

Parke CL, Wojcik E, Kim S, Worthylake DK. ATP hydrolysis in Eg5 kinesin involves a catalytic two-water mechanism. Journal of Biological Chemistry [Internet]. 2010 Feb 19;285(8):5859–67. Retrieved from: http://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=pubmed&id=20018897&retmode=ref&cmd=prlinks. PMCID: PMC2820811