Melissa Leger-Abraham

Melissa Leger-Abraham

Assistant Professor of Microbiology and of Pediatrics

Abraham Lab
77 Avenue Louis Pasteur
NRB 939
Boston MA 02115
Email: melissa_leger-abraham@hms.harvard.edu 

Website:
Léger-Abraham Lab (leger-abraham-laboratory.com)
Lab Size: Between 5-10

Summary

My laboratory uses methods in molecular and structural biology (X-ray crystallography, Cryo-electron microscopy, and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) to characterize the protein synthesis machinery of parasites, such as the ones causing Leishmaniasis and Malaria, that significantly burden public health. Our long-term goal is to harness this information to develop safe and effective antiparasitic drugs.

Publications

Belfetmi, A & Léger-Abraham, M. (2020). 1H, 13C, and 15N backbone chemical shift assignments of m7GTP cap-bound Leishmania initiation factor 4E-1. Biomol NMR Assign.

Tupperwar, N., Meleppattu, S., Shrivastava, R., Baron, N., Gilad, A., Wagner, G., Léger-Abraham, M., & Shapira, M. (2020). A newly identified Leishmania IF4E-interacting protein, Leish4E-IP2, modulates the activity of cap-binding protein paralogs. Nucleic Acids Research, 48:4405-4417.

Meleppattu, S., Arthanari, H., Zinoviev, A., Boeszoermenyi, A., Wagner, G., Shapira, M. & Léger-Abraham, M. (2018). Structural basis for IF4E-1 modulation by an interacting protein in the human parasite Leishmania major. Nucleic Acids Research, 46: 3791-3801.

Sekiyama, N., Boeszoermenyi, A., Arthanari, H., Wagner, G. & Léger-Abraham, M. (2017). 1H, 13C, and 15N backbone chemical shift assignments of 4E-BP11 and 4E-BP144-87 bound to eIF4E. Biomol NMR Assign, 16: 1114-1115.

Sekiyama, N., Arthanari, H., Papadopoulos, E., Rodriguez-Mias, R., Wagner, G., Léger-Abraham, M. (2015). Molecular mechanism of the dual activity of 4EGI-1: Dissociating eIF4G from eIF4E but stabilizing the binding of unphosphorylated 4E-BP1. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 112: E4036-E4045.