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Professor David J Merkler

Department of Chemistry Tel: (813)-974-3579
University of South Florida Fax: (813)-974-3203
Email: merkler@usf.edu

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David J. Merkler obtained his PhD in Biochemistry from Pennsylvania State University in 1985 and completed postdoctoral fellowships in enzymology at Temple University School of Medicine (1985-1987) and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine (1987-1989).
His next position was as Senior Scientist at Unigene Laboratories, Inc., involved in the in vitro production of a peptide hormone, calcitonin. In 1995, he moved back to academia as a professor of chemistry and biochemistry—first at Duquesne University (1995-1999), and then the University of South Florida (1999-present).
Dr. Merkler currently teaches general and advanced biochemistry with the respective labs at the University of South Florida. He also teaches biochemistry abroad every summer in Florence, Italy.

Outline of Our Research Program

Peptidylglycine alpha-amidating monooxygenase enzyme (PAM)
PAM has a broad and important function for the production of many hormones critical to human health. If the levels of PAM are not proper in a cell, the cell is dysfunctional and this contributes to a number of human diseases.
There are many mysteries still left to unravel about PAM. For instance, the highest amount of PAM is found in the heart but its function in that organ is unknown. Additionally, PAM is one of very few proteins in mammals that is copper-dependent. Further research into PAM may contribute to the fundamental understanding of copper in biology and the biological control of reactive chemicals.

Fatty Acid Amides
fatty acid amides: a fascinating and diverse family of molecules whose functions range from neurotransmission, to circadian rhythm mediation, to insect cuticle sclerotization.
Our research focuses on identification and characterization of the fatty acid amides (lipidomics), in-depth examination of the enzymes responsible for fatty acid amide biosynthesis (enzymology and structural biology), and changes in the fatty acid amidome after targeted enzyme knock-out (subtraction lipidomics).