My research is directed towards a better understanding the mechanisms of function and regulation of the ensemble of human drug-metabolizing cytochromes P450.  My approaches include a variety of biophysical techniques such as advanced methods of UV-Vis absorbance, fluorescence, and  EPR spectroscopy in combination with the pressure-perturbation approach, the techniques of rapid kinetics, chemical modification of proteins, site-directed mutagenesis, as well as methods of proteomics and mass-spectroscopy.

Cytochromes P450, the most versatile, contradictory, and mysterious enzymes I know, remained the main subject of my studies during my entire scientific carrier. My current scientific interests are focused on P450-P450 interactions and, in particular, on the role of interactions between different P450 enzymes in the function and regulation of the human drug-metabolizing system as a functional entity. My views on this subject and an overview of my studies in this area may be found in my recent review article, which is available for download here. Our current efforts are focused on elucidating the role that interactions between multiple cytochrome P450 species play as a major determinant of the profile of human drug metabolism and a central element in the mechanisms of pharmacologically-important drug-drug interactions.

Another area of my research and a subject of my scientific interests is high-pressure bioscience. Over 25 years ago, I got involved in the studies of P450 interactions and conformational dynamics with the pressure-perturbation approach. Since then, the use of high hydrostatic pressures to study protein conformational equilibria, protein-protein, and protein-ligand interactions has remained one of the most important ingredients of my research strategy. My involvement in high-pressure enzymology led me to realize a high potential of the studies of pressure-tolerant enzymes from piezophilic (deep sea) organisms and elaborate a concept of using the studies of structural adaptation in pressure-tolerant enzymes for exploration of enzymatic mechanisms and construction of pressure-tolerant enzymes for biotechnology. This concept is briefly reviewed in the article, which is available here.

I also devote an important part of my time and efforts to developing new methodological approaches and data analysis methods in biochemical spectroscopy. For over 20 years, I have been working on SpectraLab software, which I designed as a versatile tool for data acquisition and analysis. This program, which allows easy manipulation with large arrays of spectra and implements various sophisticated mathematical techniques for data analysis in biochemical spectroscopy and enzyme kinetics, I have used in all my studies since 1995. My aim is to make this tool available to the scientific community. Please, refer to this page if you want to learn more about this software and/or use it in your studies.