David Sherman Lab

We harness the power of chemistry that has evolved inside of microorganisms to pioneer new antibiotics, anti-cancer drugs and other medicines.

Our Research

Composed of a dynamic, interdisciplinary team of scientists, the Sherman laboratory studies the biosynthesis of natural products from microbes that include cyanobacteria, actinomycetes, and myxobacteria. We are inspired by natural products from both terrestrial and marine organisms and seek to better understand their origins using a set of tools that includes molecular biology, genetics, biochemistry, structural biology, and bioorganic chemistry.

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David Sherman, Ph.D.

Research Professor, U-M Life Sciences Institute
Hans W. Vahlteich Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, U-M College of Pharmacy
Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, U-M Medical School
Professor of Chemistry, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Publication Highlights

Structure of a modular polyketide synthase reducing region

McCullough TM, Dhar A, Akey DL, Konwerski JR, Sherman DH, Smith JL, Structure (2023)

An NmrA-like enzyme-catalysed redox-mediated Diels-Alder cycloaddition with anti-selectivity

Liu Z, Rivera S, Newmister SA, Sanders JN, Nie Q, Liu S, Zhao F, Ferrara JD, Shih H-W, Patil S, Xu W, Miller MD, Phillips Jr. GN, Houk KN, Sherman DH, Gao X, Nature Chemistry (2023)

Molecular dynamics simulations guide chimeragenesis and engineered control of chemoselectivity in diketopiperazine dimerases

Shende VV, Harris NR, Sanders JN, Newmister SA, Khatri Y, Movassaghi M, Houk KN, Sherman DHAngew Chem Int Ed Engl (2023)

Chemoenzymatic synthesis of fluorinated polyketides

Rittner A, Joppe M, Schmidt JJ, Mayer LM, Reiners S, Heid E, Herzberg D, Sherman DH, Grininger M, Nat Chem (2022)

Metagenomic and metatranscriptomic insights into population diversity of microcystis blooms: Spatial and temporal dynamics of mcy genotypes, including a partial operon that can be abundant and expressed

Yancey CE, Smith DJ, Den Uyl PA, Mohamed OG, Yu F, Ruberg SA, Chaffin JD, Goodwin KD, Tripathi A, Sherman DH, Dick GJ, Appl Environ Microbiol (2022)

Engineering P450 TamI as an iterative biocatalyst for selective late-stage C-H functionalization and epoxidation of tirandamycin antibiotics

Espinoza RV, Haatveit KC, Grossman SW, Tan JY, McGlade CA, Khatri Y, Newmister SA, Schmidt JJ, Garcia-Borràs M, Montgomery J, Houk KN, Sherman DH, ACS Catal (2021)

Engineering sequence and selectivity of late-stage C-H oxidation in the MycG iterative cytochrome P450

Iizaka Y, Arai R, Takahashi A, Ito M, Sakai M, Fukumoto A, Sherman DH, Anzai Y, J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol (2022)

Ribosome-binding and anti-microbial studies of the mycinamicins, 16-membered macrolide antibiotics from Micromonospora griseorubida

Breiner-Goldstein E, Eyal Z, Matzov D, Halfon Y, Cimicata G, Baum M, Rokney A, Ezernitchi AV, Lowell AN, Schmidt JJ, Rozenberg H, Zimmerman E, Bashan A, Valinsky L, Anzai Y, Sherman DH, Yonath A, Nucleic Acids Res (2021)

Adminstrative Assistant Kate Godwin
Life Sciences Institute
Mary Sue Coleman Hall
210 Washtenaw Avenue
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2216

Diving for Discovery

Pharmaceutical Discovery from Cyanobacteria at the U-M Biological Station