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John May

Pronouns: He/Him/His
Associate Professor
Chemistry & Biochemistry University of Wisconsin-La Crosse

John May Pronouns: He/Him/His

Associate Professor

Chemistry & Biochemistry

Specialty area(s)

Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Molecular Genetics and Physiology of Salmonella, Structural Biology

Current courses at UWL

CHM 103: General Chemistry I

CHM 103L: General Chemistry I Lab

CHM 419: Advanced Biochemistry Lab

CHM 445: Biochemistry of Antimicrobials

Education

NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship, Department of Microbial Pathogenesis, Yale School of Medicine

Ph.D. Biochemistry (2009) University of Wisconsin–Madison

B.S. Chemistry with concentration in Biochemistry (2003) Duke University

Career

Teaching history

CHM 103: General Chemistry I

CHM 103L: General Chemistry I Lab

CHM 417L: Biochemistry I: Macromolecules Lab

CHM 419: Advanced Biochemistry Lab

CHM 445: Biochemistry of Antimicrobials

Research and publishing

Peer-reviewed Publications from Research at UWL

*UWL undergraduate

May, J.F. and *Gonske, S.J. (2025) Insights into mechanisms and significance of domain swapping from emerging examples in the Mog1p/PsbP-like fold. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbrc.2025.151570

Schwan, W.R., Moore, M., Zank, A., *Cannarella, S., Gebhardt, K., May, J.F. (2024) SK-03-92 Treatment Causes Release of a Lethal Factor Protein That Kills Staphylococcus aureus Cells. Targets. 2: 80–92. https://doi.org/10.3390/targets2020005

*Thielen, M.K., *Vaneerd, C.K., Goswami, M., Carlson, E.E., and May, J.F. (2020) 2-Aminobenzothiazoles inhibit virulence gene expression and block polymyxin resistance in Salmonella enterica. ChemBioChem. 21: 3500–3503. https://doi.org/10.1002/cbic.202000422

*Stuttgen, G. M., *Grosskopf, J.D., *Berger, C.R., May, J.F., Bhattacharyya, B., and  Weaver, T.M. (2020) Closed fumarase C active site structures reveal SS Loop
residue contribution in catalysis. FEBS Letters. 594: 337–357. https://doi.org/10.1002/1873-3468.13603

*Rasmussen, D.M., *Soens, R.W., *Davie, T.J., *Vaneerd, C.K., Bhattacharyya, B., and May, J.F. (2018) The structure of DcrB, a lipoprotein from Salmonella enterica,
reveals flexibility in the N-terminal segment of the Mog1p/PsbP-like fold.
Journal of Structural Biology. 204: 513–518.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsb.2018.10.005

Protein Structures Deposited in the Protein Data Bank from Research at UWL

https://doi.org/10.2210/pdb6P3C/pdb

https://doi.org/10.2210/pdb6OS7/pdb

https://doi.org/10.2210/pdb6NZC/pdb

https://doi.org/10.2210/pdb6NZB/pdb

https://doi.org/10.2210/pdb6NZA/pdb

https://doi.org/10.2210/pdb6NZ9/pdb

https://doi.org/10.2210/pdb6E8A/pdb

Peer-reviewed Publications from Postdoctoral, Graduate, and Undergraduate Research

May, J.F. and Groisman, E.A. (2013) Conflicting roles for a cell surface modification in Salmonella. Molecular Microbiology. 88: 970–983. https://doi.org/10.1111/mmi.12236

Wesener, D.A., May, J.F., Huffman, E.M., and Kiessling, L.L. (2013) UDP-galactopyranose mutase in nematodes. Biochemistry. 52: 4391–4398. https://doi.org/10.1021/bi400264d

May, J.F., Levengood, M.R., Splain, R.A., Brown, C.D., and Kiessling, L.L. (2012) A processive carbohydrate polymerase that mediates bifunctional catalysis using a single active site. Biochemistry. 51: 1148–1159. https://doi.org/10.1021/bi201820p

May, J.F., Splain, R.A., Brotschi, C., and Kiessling, L.L. (2009) A tethering mechanism for length control in a processive carbohydrate polymerization. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 106: 11851–11856. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0901407106

Dykhuizen, E.C., May, J.F., Tongpenyai, A., and Kiessling, L.L. (2008) Inhibitors of UDP-galactopyranose mutase thwart mycobacterial growth. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 130: 6706–6707. https://doi.org/10.1021/ja8018687

Carlson, E.E., May, J.F., and Kiessling, L.L. (2006) Chemical probes of UDP-galactopyranose mutase. Chemistry & Biology. 13: 825–837. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chembiol.2006.06.007

Pirrung, M.C., Liu, Y., Deng, L., Halstead, D.K., Li, Z., May, J.F., Wedel, M., Austin, D.A., and Webster, N.J. (2005) Methyl scanning: total synthesis of demethylasterriquinone B1 and derivatives for identification of sites of interaction with and isolation of its receptor(s). Journal of the American Chemical Society. 127: 4609–4624. https://doi.org/10.1021/ja044325h

Kudos

published

John May, Chemistry & Biochemistry and Sara Gonske, Biochemistry, co-authored the article "Insights into Mechanisms and Significance of Domain Swapping from Emerging Examples in the Mog1p/PsbP-like Fold" in "Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications," published on March 1 by Elsevier.

Submitted on: Mar. 3

awarded

Basudeb Bhattacharyya and John May, both Chemistry & Biochemistry, received an Academic Research Enhancement Award from the National Institutes of Health. This research grant, titled "Structure and Function of DcrB, an Enterobacterial Copper Resistance Protein," provides $401,680 over three years to study the structure and function of a copper resistance protein from Salmonella bacteria. This grant will fund research opportunities for undergraduates at UWL and will support access to world-class facilities for structural biology experiments at Argonne National Laboratory. John will lead this project as the principal investigator, and Basudeb will provide his expertise in structural biology as a collaborator.

Submitted on: Feb. 6, 2024

published

Cody Vaneerd, Biochemistry; Michaela Thielen, Biology; Erin Carlson and Manibarsha Goswami, both University of Minnesota, Dept. of Chemistry; and John May, Chemistry & Biochemistry, Chemistry & Biochemistry; co-authored the article "2-Aminobenzothiazoles Inhibit Virulence Gene Expression and Block Polymyxin Resistance in Salmonella enterica" in ChemBioChem published on Friday, Sept. 11 by Wiley-VCH. The article reports the collaborative discovery of molecules that have the potential to treat infections caused by Salmonella enterica, a major bacterial cause of food-borne illness.

Submitted on: Sept. 11, 2020

published

Colton Berger, Julian Grosskopf and Gage Stuttgen, all Biochemistry; and Basudeb Bhattacharyya, John May and Todd Weaver, all Chemistry & Biochemistry; co-authored the article "Closed fumarase C active-site structures reveal SS Loop residue contribution in catalysis." in FEBS Letters published on Jan. 27 by Wiley. The article outlines high-resolution structural results from a collaborative research agreement with the Advanced Photon Source located at Argonne National Laboratory.

Submitted on: Jan. 28, 2020

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