Lamees Hegazy, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical and Administrative Sciences at the University of Health Sciences & Pharmacy. She holds a secondary appointment at the Department of Anesthesiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Dr. Hegazy received her BSc in biochemistry from Mansoura University, Egypt. She earned her PhD in computational chemistry from the University of Florida—Gainesville.Top of Form
The Hegazy Lab uses a variety of computational and experimental approaches to study the correlation between the dynamics and function of prominent drug targets and design modulators that target different conformational states. Understanding the different conformational states accessible to the target receptor and of the mechanism by which bound ligands can differentially induce or stabilize these states will have profound advances in the rationale design of drugs that would bring about a desired mode of cell signaling. We use advanced computational approaches such as molecular simulations, free energy calculations and virtual screening as well as a variety of biophysical, and functional approaches including X-ray crystallography, biochemical assays, and cellular assays to connect our molecular and structural findings to cellular functions. These techniques complement each other and allow an atomic level description of how structure and dynamics govern protein functioning. Dr. Hegazy is the recipient of several funding awards from the National Institutes of Health.