Emily R. Derbyshire | Scholars@Duke

Emily R. Derbyshire
Assistant Professor of Chemistry

The Derbyshire Lab uses both chemical tools and biological methods to uncover novel aspects of malaria parasite biology with the ultimate aim of identifying druggable targets. Projects range from developing assays for phenotypic and target-based screens to exploring biological pathways and identifying small molecules with potential therapeutic value. Their interdisciplinary collaborative program integrates chemical biology, molecular biology and biochemistry to globally interrogate parasite biology.

Current Appointments & Affiliations

Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Chemistry, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2014
Assistant Professor in Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Basic Science Departments 2014

Contact Information

3218 French Science Center, Durham, NC 27708
emily.derbyshire@duke.edu (919) 660-1511
Derbyshire Research Group

Background
Education, Training, & Certifications
- NIH Postdoctoral Fellow, Biological Chemistry & Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School 2009 - 2014
- Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley 2008
- B.S., Trinity College 2002
Duke Appointment History
- Scholar in Residence in the Department of Chemistry, Chemistry, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences 2013 - 2014
Recognition
In the News
- JUN 27, 2019
  
  Malaria Parasites Hijack Your Genes to Set up Camp Inside Your Liver
- MAY 22, 2018
  
  Malaria-Causing Parasite Manipulates Liver Cells to Survive
- OCT 5, 2017
  
  Two Duke Faculty Win NIH New Innovator Awards
- JAN 11, 2017
  
  Chemistry Professor Wins 2017 Marion Milligan Mason Award
- OCT 2, 2014
  
  Emily Derbyshire: Prospecting for Malaria Drugs
- AUG 25, 2014
  
  Cancer-Fighting Drugs Might Also Stop Malaria Early
Publications & Artistic Works
Selected Publications
- Academic Articles
  - Lu, Kuan-Yi, Baiyi Quan, Kayla Sylvester, Tamanna Srivastava, Michael C. Fitzgerald, and Emily R. Derbyshire. “Plasmodium chaperonin TRiC/CCT identified as a target of the antihistamine clemastine using parallel chemoproteomic strategy.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 117, no. 11 (March 3, 2020): 5810–17. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1913525117.
    Full Text
  - Lu, Kuan-Yi, and Emily R. Derbyshire. “Tafenoquine: A Step toward Malaria Elimination.” Biochemistry 59, no. 8 (March 2020): 911–20. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.biochem.9b01105.
    Full Text
  - D’Ambrosio, Hannah K., and Emily R. Derbyshire. “Investigating the Role of Class I Adenylate-Forming Enzymes in Natural Product Biosynthesis.” Acs Chemical Biology 15, no. 1 (January 2020): 17–27. https://doi.org/10.1021/acschembio.9b00865.
    Full Text
  - Ganley, Jack G., Hannah K. D’Ambrosio, Meg Shieh, and Emily R. Derbyshire. “Coculturing of Mosquito-Microbiome Bacteria Promotes Heme Degradation in Elizabethkingia anophelis.” Chembiochem : A European Journal of Chemical Biology, December 17, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1002/cbic.201900675.
    Full Text
  - Raphemot, Rene, Maria Toro-Moreno, Kuan-Yi Lu, Dora Posfai, and Emily Rose Derbyshire. “Discovery of Druggable Host Factors Critical to Plasmodium Liver-Stage Infection.” Cell Chemical Biology 26, no. 9 (September 2019): 1253-1262.e5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chembiol.2019.05.011.
    Full Text
  - Szamosvári, Dávid, Kayla Sylvester, Philipp Schmid, Kuan-Yi Lu, Emily R. Derbyshire, and Thomas Böttcher. “Close the ring to break the cycle: tandem quinolone-alkyne-cyclisation gives access to tricyclic pyrrolo[1,2-a]quinolin-5-ones with potent anti-protozoal activity.” Chemical Communications (Cambridge, England) 55, no. 49 (June 2019): 7009–12. https://doi.org/10.1039/c9cc01689a.
    Full Text
  - Lee, Hyunji, Kayla Sylvester, Emily R. Derbyshire, and Jiyong Hong. “Synthesis and Analysis of Natural-Product-Like Macrocycles by Tandem Oxidation/Oxa-Conjugate Addition Reactions.” Chemistry (Weinheim an Der Bergstrasse, Germany) 25, no. 26 (May 2019): 6500–6504. https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.201900620.
    Full Text
  - Raphemot, Rene, Amber Leigh Eubanks, Maria Toro-Moreno, Rechel Anne Geiger, Philip Floyd Hughes, Kuan-Yi Lu, Timothy Arthur James Haystead, and Emily Rose Derbyshire. “Plasmodium PK9 Inhibitors Promote Growth of Liver-Stage Parasites.” Cell Chem Biol 26, no. 3 (March 21, 2019): 411-419.e7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chembiol.2018.11.003.
    Full Text Link to Item
  - Eubanks, Amber L., Marisha M. Perkins, Kayla Sylvester, Jack G. Ganley, Dora Posfai, Paul C. Sanschargrin, Jiyong Hong, Piotr Sliz, and Emily R. Derbyshire. “In silico Screening and Evaluation of Plasmodium falciparum Protein Kinase 5 (PK5) Inhibitors.” Chemmedchem 13, no. 23 (December 2018): 2479–83. https://doi.org/10.1002/cmdc.201800625.
    Full Text
  - Ganley, Jack G., Gavin Carr, Thomas R. Ioerger, James C. Sacchettini, Jon Clardy, and Emily R. Derbyshire. “Discovery of Antimicrobial Lipodepsipeptides Produced by a Serratia sp. within Mosquito Microbiomes.” Chembiochem : A European Journal of Chemical Biology 19, no. 15 (August 2018): 1590–94. https://doi.org/10.1002/cbic.201800124.
    Full Text
  - Posfai, Dora, Kayla Sylvester, Anupama Reddy, Jack G. Ganley, Johannes Wirth, Quinlan E. Cullen, Tushar Dave, Nobutaka Kato, Sandeep S. Dave, and Emily R. Derbyshire. “Plasmodium parasite exploits host aquaporin-3 during liver stage malaria infection.” Plos Pathog 14, no. 5 (May 2018): e1007057. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1007057.
    Full Text Open Access Copy Link to Item
  - Posfai, Dora, Kayla Sylvester, Anupama Reddy, Jack G. Ganley, Johannes Wirth, Quinlan E. Cullen, Tushar Dave, Nobutaka Kato, Sandeep S. Dave, and Emily R. Derbyshire. “Plasmodium parasite exploits host aquaporin-3 during liver stage malaria infection.” Plos Pathogens 14, no. 5 (May 1, 2018). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.100757.
    Full Text Link to Item
  - Posfai, Dora, Amber L. Eubanks, Allison I. Keim, Kuan-Yi Lu, Grace Z. Wang, Philip F. Hughes, Nobutaka Kato, Timothy A. Haystead, and Emily R. Derbyshire. “Identification of Hsp90 Inhibitors with Anti-Plasmodium Activity.” Antimicrob Agents Chemother 62, no. 4 (April 2018). https://doi.org/10.1128/AAC.01799-17.
    Full Text Link to Item
  - Ganley, Jack G., Maria Toro-Moreno, and Emily R. Derbyshire. “Exploring the Untapped Biosynthetic Potential of Apicomplexan Parasites.” Biochemistry 57, no. 4 (January 2018): 365–75. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.biochem.7b00877.
    Full Text
  - Totzke, Juliane, Deepak Gurbani, Rene Raphemot, Philip F. Hughes, Khaldon Bodoor, David A. Carlson, David R. Loiselle, et al. “Takinib, a Selective TAK1 Inhibitor, Broadens the Therapeutic Efficacy of TNF-α Inhibition for Cancer and Autoimmune Disease.” Cell Chem Biol 24, no. 8 (August 17, 2017): 1029-1039.e7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chembiol.2017.07.011.
    Full Text Link to Item
  - Kato, Nobutaka, Eamon Comer, Tomoyo Sakata-Kato, Arvind Sharma, Manmohan Sharma, Micah Maetani, Jessica Bastien, et al. “Diversity-oriented synthesis yields novel multistage antimalarial inhibitors.” Nature 538, no. 7625 (October 2016): 344–49. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature19804.
    Full Text
  - Raphemot, Rene, Dora Posfai, and Emily R. Derbyshire. “Current therapies and future possibilities for drug development against liver-stage malaria.” The Journal of Clinical Investigation 126, no. 6 (June 2016): 2013–20. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI82981.
    Full Text
  - Raphemot, Rene, Maria J. Lafuente-Monasterio, Francisco Javier Gamo-Benito, Jon Clardy, and Emily R. Derbyshire. “Discovery of Dual-Stage Malaria Inhibitors with New Targets.” Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy 60, no. 3 (December 14, 2015): 1430–37. https://doi.org/10.1128/AAC.02110-15.
    Full Text
  - Herman, Jonathan D., Lauren R. Pepper, Joseph F. Cortese, Guillermina Estiu, Kevin Galinsky, Vanessa Zuzarte-Luis, Emily R. Derbyshire, et al. “The cytoplasmic prolyl-tRNA synthetase of the malaria parasite is a dual-stage target of febrifugine and its analogs.” Science Translational Medicine 7, no. 288 (May 2015): 288ra77. https://doi.org/10.1126/scitranslmed.aaa3575.
    Full Text
  - Derbyshire, Emily R., Vanessa Zuzarte-Luís, Andreia D. Magalhães, Nobutaka Kato, Paul C. Sanschagrin, Jinhua Wang, Wenjun Zhou, et al. “Chemical interrogation of the malaria kinome.” Chembiochem : A European Journal of Chemical Biology 15, no. 13 (September 2014): 1920–30. https://doi.org/10.1002/cbic.201400025.
    Full Text
  - Derbyshire, Emily R., Jaeki Min, W Armand Guiguemde, Julie A. Clark, Michele C. Connelly, Andreia D. Magalhães, R Kiplin Guy, and Jon Clardy. “Dihydroquinazolinone inhibitors of proliferation of blood and liver stage malaria parasites.” Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy 58, no. 3 (January 2014): 1516–22. https://doi.org/10.1128/AAC.02148-13.
    Full Text
  - Derbyshire, Emily R., and Jon Clardy. “Closing in on a new treatment for sleeping sickness.” Elife 2 (January 2013): e01042. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.01042.
    Full Text
  - Fernhoff, Nathaniel B., Emily R. Derbyshire, Eric S. Underbakke, and Michael A. Marletta. “Heme-assisted S-nitrosation desensitizes ferric soluble guanylate cyclase to nitric oxide.” The Journal of Biological Chemistry 287, no. 51 (December 2012): 43053–62. https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.M112.393892.
    Full Text
  - Gunn, Alexander, Emily R. Derbyshire, Michael A. Marletta, and R David Britt. “Conformationally distinct five-coordinate heme-NO complexes of soluble guanylate cyclase elucidated by multifrequency electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR).” Biochemistry 51, no. 42 (October 9, 2012): 8384–90. https://doi.org/10.1021/bi300831m.
    Full Text
  - Carr, Gavin, Emily R. Derbyshire, Eric Caldera, Cameron R. Currie, and Jon Clardy. “Antibiotic and antimalarial quinones from fungus-growing ant-associated Pseudonocardia sp.” Journal of Natural Products 75, no. 10 (October 2012): 1806–9. https://doi.org/10.1021/np300380t.
    Full Text
  - Derbyshire, Emily R., Miguel Prudêncio, Maria M. Mota, and Jon Clardy. “Liver-stage malaria parasites vulnerable to diverse chemical scaffolds.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 109, no. 22 (May 14, 2012): 8511–16. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1118370109.
    Full Text
  - Derbyshire, Emily R., Ralph Mazitschek, and Jon Clardy. “Characterization of Plasmodium liver stage inhibition by halofuginone.” Chemmedchem 7, no. 5 (May 2012): 844–49. https://doi.org/10.1002/cmdc.201200045.
    Full Text
  - Derbyshire, Emily R., and Michael A. Marletta. “Structure and regulation of soluble guanylate cyclase.” Annual Review of Biochemistry 81 (January 2012): 533–59. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-biochem-050410-100030.
    Full Text
  - Dong, Carolyn K., Sameer Urgaonkar, Joseph F. Cortese, Francisco-Javier Gamo, Jose F. Garcia-Bustos, Maria J. Lafuente, Vishal Patel, et al. “Identification and validation of tetracyclic benzothiazepines as Plasmodium falciparum cytochrome bc1 inhibitors.” Chemistry & Biology 18, no. 12 (December 2011): 1602–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chembiol.2011.09.016.
    Full Text
  - Derbyshire, Emily R., Maria M. Mota, and Jon Clardy. “The next opportunity in anti-malaria drug discovery: the liver stage.” Plos Pathogens 7, no. 9 (September 22, 2011): e1002178. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1002178.
    Full Text
  - Derbyshire, Emily R., Michael B. Winter, Mohammed Ibrahim, Sarah Deng, Thomas G. Spiro, and Michael A. Marletta. “Probing domain interactions in soluble guanylate cyclase.” Biochemistry 50, no. 20 (May 3, 2011): 4281–90. https://doi.org/10.1021/bi200341b.
    Full Text
  - Derbyshire, Emily R., Sarah Deng, and Michael A. Marletta. “Incorporation of tyrosine and glutamine residues into the soluble guanylate cyclase heme distal pocket alters NO and O2 binding.” The Journal of Biological Chemistry 285, no. 23 (June 2010): 17471–78. https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.M109.098269.
    Full Text
  - Ibrahim, Mohammed, Emily R. Derbyshire, Alexandra V. Soldatova, Michael A. Marletta, and Thomas G. Spiro. “Soluble guanylate cyclase is activated differently by excess NO and by YC-1: resonance Raman spectroscopic evidence.” Biochemistry 49, no. 23 (June 2010): 4864–71. https://doi.org/10.1021/bi100506j.
    Full Text
  - Ibrahim, Mohammed, Emily R. Derbyshire, Michael A. Marletta, and Thomas G. Spiro. “Probing soluble guanylate cyclase activation by CO and YC-1 using resonance Raman spectroscopy.” Biochemistry 49, no. 18 (May 2010): 3815–23. https://doi.org/10.1021/bi902214j.
    Full Text
  - Fernhoff, Nathaniel B., Emily R. Derbyshire, and Michael A. Marletta. “A nitric oxide/cysteine interaction mediates the activation of soluble guanylate cyclase.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 106, no. 51 (December 9, 2009): 21602–7. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0911083106.
    Full Text
  - Derbyshire, Emily R., Nathaniel B. Fernhoff, Sarah Deng, and Michael A. Marletta. “Nucleotide regulation of soluble guanylate cyclase substrate specificity.” Biochemistry 48, no. 31 (August 2009): 7519–24. https://doi.org/10.1021/bi900696x.
    Full Text
  - Ibrahim, Mohammed, Emily R. Derbyshire, Michael A. Marletta, and Thomas G. Spiro. “Interaction of allosteric effectors with soluble guanylate cyclase heme domains: Role of heme distortion and propionate hydrogen bonding on synergistic activation.” Abstracts of Papers of the American Chemical Society 237 (March 22, 2009).
    Link to Item
  - Derbyshire, Emily R., and Michael A. Marletta. “Biochemistry of soluble guanylate cyclase.” Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology, no. 191 (January 2009): 17–31. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-68964-5_2.
    Full Text
  - Winger, Jonathan A., Emily R. Derbyshire, Meindert H. Lamers, Michael A. Marletta, and John Kuriyan. “The crystal structure of the catalytic domain of a eukaryotic guanylate cyclase.” Bmc Structural Biology 8 (October 7, 2008): 42. https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6807-8-42.
    Full Text
  - Derbyshire, Emily R., Alexander Gunn, Mohammed Ibrahim, Thomas G. Spiro, R David Britt, and Michael A. Marletta. “Characterization of two different five-coordinate soluble guanylate cyclase ferrous-nitrosyl complexes.” Biochemistry 47, no. 12 (March 2008): 3892–99. https://doi.org/10.1021/bi7022943.
    Full Text
  - Derbyshire, Emily R., and Michael A. Marletta. “Butyl isocyanide as a probe of the activation mechanism of soluble guanylate cyclase. Investigating the role of non-heme nitric oxide.” The Journal of Biological Chemistry 282, no. 49 (December 2007): 35741–48. https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.m705557200.
    Full Text
  - Martin, Nathaniel I., Emily R. Derbyshire, and Michael A. Marletta. “Synthesis and evaluation of a phosphonate analogue of the soluble guanylate cyclase activator YC-1.” Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters 17, no. 17 (September 2007): 4938–41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bmcl.2007.06.039.
    Full Text
  - Winger, Jonathan A., Emily R. Derbyshire, and Michael A. Marletta. “Dissociation of nitric oxide from soluble guanylate cyclase and heme-nitric oxide/oxygen binding domain constructs.” The Journal of Biological Chemistry 282, no. 2 (January 2007): 897–907. https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.m606327200.
    Full Text
  - Cary, Stephen P. L., Jonathan A. Winger, Emily R. Derbyshire, and Michael A. Marletta. “Nitric oxide signaling: no longer simply on or off.” Trends in Biochemical Sciences 31, no. 4 (April 2006): 231–39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tibs.2006.02.003.
    Full Text
  - Derbyshire, Emily R., Rosalie Tran, Richard A. Mathies, and Michael A. Marletta. “Characterization of nitrosoalkane binding and activation of soluble guanylate cyclase.” Biochemistry 44, no. 49 (December 2005): 16257–65. https://doi.org/10.1021/bi0515671.
    Full Text
- Conference Papers
  - Keim, Allison I., Dora Posfai, Timothy A. Haystead, and Emily R. Derbyshire. “Heat Shock Protein 90 is Critical for Plasmodium Parasite Liver Stage Development.” In Faseb Journal, Vol. 31. FEDERATION AMER SOC EXP BIOL, 2017.
    Link to Item
  - Eubanks, Amber L., and Emily R. Derbyshire. “Exploration of Plasmodium Kinases.” In Faseb Journal, Vol. 30. FEDERATION AMER SOC EXP BIOL, 2016.
    Link to Item
  - Eubanks, Amber L., and Emily R. Derbyshire. “Exploration of Plasmodium Kinases.” In Faseb Journal, Vol. 30. FEDERATION AMER SOC EXP BIOL, 2016.
    Link to Item
Teaching & Mentoring
Recent Courses
- CHEM 89S: First-Year Seminar 2020
- CHEM 393: Research Independent Study 2020
- CHEM 394: Research Independent Study 2020
- CHEM 493: Research Independent Study 2020
- CHEM 494: Research Independent Study 2020
- MGM 293: Research Independent Study I 2020
- MGM 593: Research Independent Study 2020
- CHEM 517: Molecules in Life and Disease 2019
- PHARM 693: Research Independent Study in Science Education 2018

Some information on this profile has been compiled automatically from Duke databases and external sources. (Our About page explains how this works.) If you see a problem with the information, please write to Scholars@Duke and let us know. We will reply promptly.

Education, Training, & Certifications

Duke Appointment History

In the News

Selected Publications

Academic Articles

Conference Papers

Recent Courses