{"id":7,"date":"2019-07-09T18:41:45","date_gmt":"2019-07-09T18:41:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.butler.edu\/alex-erkine-lab\/?page_id=7"},"modified":"2026-04-03T19:42:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T19:42:21","slug":"alex-erkine-lab","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/research.butler.edu\/alex-erkine-lab\/","title":{"rendered":"Home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile is-vertically-aligned-top\" style=\"grid-template-columns:33% auto\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"696\" height=\"880\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.butler.edu\/research\/sites\/2\/2019\/07\/02143549\/alex-erkine.jpg\" alt=\"Headshot of Dr. Alex Erkine\" class=\"wp-image-39 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.butler.edu\/research\/sites\/2\/2019\/07\/02143549\/alex-erkine.jpg 696w, https:\/\/cdn.butler.edu\/research\/sites\/2\/2019\/07\/02143549\/alex-erkine-237x300.jpg 237w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 696px) 100vw, 696px\" \/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p><strong>Research Interests:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Gene regulation in context of chromatin using a combination of molecular biology and bioinformatics with elements of AI.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Nonlinear biochemistry of IDP\/IDR(Intrinsically Disordered Protein Regions).<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Pharmacology of tomorrow.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-custom-butler-blue-color has-base-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/cdn.butler.edu\/research\/sites\/2\/2019\/07\/02143549\/AME-Abbr-CV-2019.pdf\">Download CV<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Paradigm shift<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In molecular biology weak near-stochastic interactions are traditionally considered as nonessential noise. We challenge this notion and assert with our research that these&nbsp;types of interactions are&nbsp;fundamentally required for vital cellular mechanisms. Implementation of mechanisms based on near-stochastic interactions by intrinsically disordered protein regions (IDRs), that constitute ~ 40% of our genome, establishes a fundamental paradigm shift in biochemistry. The critical tool required for the investigation of the myriad of near-noise interactions is machine learning. It is especially powerful in combination with&nbsp;next generation massive parallel approaches&nbsp;of&nbsp;wet lab molecular biology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Transcriptional Activation Domains &#8211; why it matters?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>How genes are turned ON and OFF is an old and fundamental&nbsp;question. The key players in gene activation are molecules of gene activators. Mostly they are proteins that have two obligatory domains: the DNA-binding domain (DBD) and the transcriptional activation domain (TAD). While DBDs are well understood (structure and mechanism of function), TADs are an enigma: they do not have specific structure, the amino acid sequence is extremely variable, and interaction targets are multiple and uncertain. How TADs work defy&nbsp;conventional biochemistry mentality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We introduced a&nbsp;<em><strong>radically new mechanistic model for TADs&nbsp;functioning&nbsp;as &#8220;nucleosome detergents<\/strong><\/em>&#8220;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-custom-butler-blue-color has-base-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/cdn.butler.edu\/research\/sites\/2\/2019\/07\/02143549\/Nonlinear-Biochemistry-of-Nucleosome-Detergents.pdf\">Read More<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Paradigm shift In molecular biology weak near-stochastic interactions are traditionally considered as nonessential noise. We challenge this notion and assert with our research that these&nbsp;types of interactions are&nbsp;fundamentally required for vital cellular mechanisms. Implementation of mechanisms based on near-stochastic interactions by intrinsically disordered protein regions (IDRs), that constitute ~ 40% of our genome, establishes a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-7","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Dr. Alex Erkine | Butler University | Biochemistry and Molecular Biology<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Dr. Alex Erkine and his research team challenge the notion that weak near-stochastic interactions are nonessential noise, asserting with their research that these interactions are fundamentally required for vital cellular mechanisms.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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