Matthew Mchenry Email & Phone Number

Cambridge, Ma, Us

Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States

In collaboration with UT Southwestern, I am dissecting the binding properties of DHODH inhibitors to correlate with resistance propensity in Plasmodium falciparumApplying biophysical methods including surface plasmon resonance (SPR), microscale thermophoresis (MST), and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) to experimentally characterize inhibitor bindingElucidating inhibitor binding energetics at an atomistic level by performing free energy perturbation (FEP) and molecular dynamics (MD) calculations within Maestro (Schrödinger software platform)

Boston, Massachusetts, United States

As a member of the Walensky laboratory, I finalized revisions for a manuscript (Nature Chemical Biology, 2024) describing the discovery and characterization of the first covalent inhibitor of pro-apoptotic BAX. I then collaborated with Scripps Research to advance next-generation covalent BAX inhibitors.

Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States

Advanced novel strategies for targeted protein degradation as part of an interdisciplinary teamTriaged hit compounds from high throughput screens by applying biophysical methods including surface plasmon resonance and NMRObtained a co-crystal structure of a lead compound bound to the target protein by iterative crystal optimization

Boston, Massachusetts, United States

As a member of the Walensky laboratory, I combined biochemical, synthetic, structural, and cellular approaches to elucidate the mechanistic basis for modulation of BAX structure/function by physiologic (Cell Reports, 2020) and pharmacologic (Nature Chemical Biology, 2024) covalent ligands. This work established cysteine 126 (C126) as a critical site for regulation of BAX and informed a novel therapeutic strategy for blocking apoptosis in diseases of pathologic cell death by covalent targeting of BAX C126.Publications: 1. McHenry, M., et al. (2024). Covalent Inhibition of Pro-Apoptotic BAX. Nature Chemical Biology. DOI: 10.1038/s41589-023-01537-6. 2. Cohen, D., Wales, T., McHenry, M., et al. (2020). Site-Dependent Cysteine Lipidation Potentiates the Activation of Proapoptotic BAX. Cell Reports. DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2020.02.057.

Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States

Taught undergraduate chemistry courses as a discussion section (Fall 2018) or laboratory section (Spring 2018, Spring 2020) teaching fellow.

Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States

Publications: 1. Reynolds, E., Schwochert, T., McHenry, M., et al. (2017). Orthogonal Expression of anArtificial Metalloenzyme for Abiotic Catalysis. ChemBioChem. DOI: 10.1002/cbic.201700397.2. Reynolds, E., McHenry, M., et al. (2016). An Evolved Orthogonal Enzyme/Cofactor Pair. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 138(38), pp.12451-12458. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.6b05847.As a member of the Brustad Laboratory in the Department of Chemistry, I synthesized non-natural porphyrin cofactors, evolved orthogonal enzyme/cofactor pairs, and determined the catalytic activity and stereoselectivity of orthogonal enzyme/cofactor pairs in non-natural reactions.

Doctor Of Philosophy - Phd, Chemistry

Activities and Societies: Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) Orchestra, GSAS Residential Advising, Health Professions Recruitment.

Bachelor Of Science - Bs, Chemistry

Activities and Societies: UNC Symphony Orchestra, Balance Residential Learning Program, Intramural basketball.Graduated with Highest.