Education

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

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

Awards and Honors

Chancellors Excellence Award, LSU School of Medicine, 2023

Invited spotlight speaker, American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA, 2023

2016 Top 50 most downloaded PLoS Pathogens papers; >15,800 views, >4,000 downloads (Van Voorhis et al.), 2016

Two Faculty of 1000 Biology "exceptional" paper commentaries, 2016

Editor's Picks, PLOS Collections for Cell Biology (selected by ASCB 2017 meeting organizers), 2016

Paper of the Week as top 1% of articles in Journal of Biological Chemistry; Parke, C.L., Wojcik, E.J. et al., 2010 

Featured journal cover image of Cell Cycle 7(23); Wojcik, E.J., A mitotic role for glycogen synthase kinase 3β, 2008 

Featured journal cover image of Nature Cell Biology Vol. 3(11); Wojcik, E.J. et al., Kinetochore dynein, 2001

NIH postdoctoral fellowship F32GM019123; Mitotic role of cytoplasmic dynein in Drosophila, 1997 – 2000

NSF postdoctoral fellowship, Research Training Program in Cytoskeleton Biology (DBI 9113444), 1997 – 1998 

NIH predoctoral fellowship, NIH T23 Developmental Biology Training Program, 1991 – 1992 

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

Research Interests

Our research investigates allostery in cellular motor proteins—remarkable nanomachines uniquely capable of converting ATP into mechanical work essential for all cellular life, including mitosis, cargo transport, and cell migration.

The central question addresses how these motors transmit signals across molecular distances to coordinate their responses, a critical gap in understanding biological energy transduction.

Elucidating these allosteric mechanisms is vital both for comprehending the fundamental principles enabling cellular function and for targeting motor proteins therapeutically to disrupt processes like cancer cell division or pathogen motility.