Timothy Deming

Biography

Timothy J. Deming received a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of California, Irvine in 1989, and graduated with a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1993. After a NIH postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst with David Tirrell, he joined the faculty in the Materials Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1995. Here he held appointments in the Materials and Chemistry Departments where he was promoted to Associate Professor in 1999 and Full Professor in 2003. His appointment is now as Distinguished Professor of Bioengineering and Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California Los Angeles. He served as the Chairman of the Bioengineering Department at UCLA from 2006 to 2011. He is a leader in the fields of polypeptide synthesis, self-assembly of block copolypeptides, and use of polypeptides in biology, for which he has received awards from the National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research, The Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, the Materials Research Society, and the IUPAC Macromolecular Division. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, and recently received the Fulbright-Tocqueville Distinguished Chair Award.

Research

The Deming lab is focused on synthesis, processing, characterization and evaluation of biomimetic polypeptide materials. These materials are being studied since they can be prepared from renewable resources, can be biocompatible and biodegradable, and possess unique self-assembling properties. The Deming lab develops new synthetic materials with properties that rival the complexity found in biological systems. Our emphasis is on development of new synthetic methodologies as well as the use of biological precedents and strategies for the design of new materials. Our lab continues to take on significant new challenges in the exploration of applications of our materials for interaction with biological systems and for medicine, as well as development of new economical and scalable preparative routes to more complex and functional polypeptide architectures.

Selected Publications

“Modification of poly(5,6-epoxy-L-norleucine) gives functional polypeptides with alternative side-chain linkages”. Perlin, P.; Scott, W. A.; Deming, T. J. Biomacromolecules, 2020, 21, 126-132. DOI: 10.1021/acs.biomac.9b01065

“Self-sorting microscale compartmentalized block copolypeptide hydrogels.” Sun, Y.; Bentolila, L. A.; Deming, T. J. ACS Macro Lett., 2019, 8, 1275-1279. DOI: 10.1021/acsmacrolett.9b00669

“Influence of sulfoxide group placement on polypeptide conformational stability”. Gharakhanian, E. G.; Bahrun, E.; Deming, T. J. J. Amer. Chem. Soc., 2019, 141, 14530-14533. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.9b07223

“Human vault nanoparticle targeted delivery of antiretroviral drugs to inhibit human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection.” Fulcher, J. A.; Tamshen, K.; Wollenberg, A. L.; Kickhoefer, V. A.; Mrazek, J.; Elliott, J.; Ibarrondo, F. J.; Anton, P. A.; Rome, L. H.; Maynard, H. D.; Deming, T. J.; Yang, O. O. Bioconjugate Chem., 2019, 30, 2216-2227. DOI: 10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.9b00451

“Self-healing multiblock copolypeptide hydrogels via polyion complexation.” Sun, Y.; Deming, T. J. ACS Macro Lett., 2019, 8, 553-557. DOI: 10.1021/acsmacrolett.9b00269

“Versatile N-methylaminooxy functionalized polypeptides for preparation of neoglycoconjugates”. Wollenberg, A. L.; Perlin, P.; Deming, T. J. Biomacromolecules, 2019, 20, 1756-1764. DOI: 10.1021/acs.biomac.9b00138

“Required growth facilitators propel axon regeneration across complete spinal cord injury”. Anderson, M. A.; O’Shea, T. M.; Burda, J. E.; Ao, Y.; Barlatey, S. L.; Bernstein, A. M.; Kim, J. H.; James, N. D.; Rogers, A.; Kato, B.; Wollenberg, A. L.; Kawaguchi, R.; Coppola, G.; Wang, C.; Deming, T. J.; He, Z.; Courtine, G.; Sofroniew, M. V. Nature, 2018, 561, 369-400. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0467-6

“Homoallylglycine residues are superior precursors to orthogonally modified thioether containing polypeptides”. Perlin, P.; Gharakhanian, E. G.; Deming, T. J. Chem. Commun., 2018, 54, 6196 - 6199. DOI: 10.1039/c8cc03048k

“Injectable polypeptide hydrogels via methionine modification for neural stem cell delivery”. Wollenberg, A. L.; O’Shea, T. M.; Kim, J. H.; Czechanski, A.; Reinholdt, L. G.; Sofroniew, M. V.; Deming, T. J. Biomaterials, 2018, 178, 527-545. DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2018.03.057

“Conformation directed formation of self-healing diblock copolypeptide hydrogels via polyion complexation”. Sun, Y.; Wollenberg, A. L.; O’Shea, T. M.; Cui, Y.; Zhou, Z. H.; Sofroniew, M. V.; Deming, T. J. J. Amer. Chem. Soc., 2017, 139, 15114–15121.DOI: 10.1021/jacs.7b08190