SDSSouth Dakota State University · Chemistry
Colbert Lab
Christopher L Colbert · Brookings, South Dakota
Research Focus
Dr. Christopher L Colbert's lab at North Dakota State University focuses on understanding how certain bacteria, particularly Gram-negative bacteria, manage to import essential metals like iron from their environment. By studying specific transport proteins and their regulation, the lab aims to unravel complex signaling mechanisms that could lead to new treatments for bacterial infections, especially those caused by antibiotic-resistant strains. The research combines structural biology and biochemistry techniques to analyze how these bacteria respond to their surroundings and how they can be targeted by new antibiotics.
Gram-negative bacteriairon transportsiderophoresantibiotic resistancesignal transductionproteolysisouter membrane transportersstructural biologybiophysical techniquestherapeutics
Research Aims
3AIM 01Identify how the N-terminal domain of a transporter prevents protease recognition.
AIM 02Elucidate the mechanism by which a protease mediates the degradation of a signaling regulator.
AIM 03Determine the structural features that enable proteolysis of the signaling regulator by the protease.
Skills the Lab Values
X-ray crystallographymass spectrometrySDS-PAGEsite-directed mutagenesisproteolysis assayssmall-angle X-ray scatteringisothermal titration calorimetrymicroscale thermophoresiscell culturebiochemical assays
Output against the department
Publications62bottom 10% of dept.194th of 216
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations1.2kbottom 9% of dept.196th of 216
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.