Curriculum Vitae

Dr. Demetres D. Leonidas

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Education

Diploma in Chemistry, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece (1987)
Ph.D. in Structural Biology , University of Athens, Greece (1994)

Research Interests

My work addresses structural aspects of a number of diverse biological issues that include the cell cycle, signal transduction pathways, enzyme mechanism, proteins of the inflammatory response and structure-based drug design. Rational design approaches may be based on a known lead such as a natural metabolite, substrate or inhibitor.

In specific, current research aims to understand proteins involved in fthree main areas of biological interest: (1) RNases, (2) carbohydrate recognition and lectin superfamily, (3) control of glycogen metabolism.

Selected recent publications

Structural basis of the carbohydrate recognition of the Sclerotium rolfsii lectin. D.D. Leonidas, B.M. Swamy, G.N. Hatzopoulos, S.J. Gonchigar, V.B. Chachadi, S.R. Inamdar, S.E. Zographos, and N.G. Oikonomakos (2007). J. Mol. Biol., in press

Recognition of Ribonuclease A by 3 '-5'-Pyrophosphate-linked Dinucleotide Inhibitors: a Molecular Dynamics/Continuum Electrostatics Analysis. S. Polydoridis, D.D. Leonidas, N.G. Oikonomakos, and G. Archontis. (2007). Biophys. J. 92, 1659-1672

The binding of 3/-N-piperidine-4-carboxyl-3/-deoxy-ara-uridine to Ribonuclease A in the crystal. D.D. Leonidas, T.K. Maiti, A. Samanta, S. Dasgupta, T. Pathak, S.E. Zographos, and N.G. Oikonomakos (2006). Bioorg. Med. Chem. 14, 6055-6064

The binding of IMP to Ribonuclease A. G.N. Hatzopoulos, D.D. Leonidas, R. Kardakaris, J. Kobe, and N.G. Oikonomakos (2005). FEBS J 272, 3988-4001

Crystallographic studies on acyl ureas, a new class of glycogen phosphorylase inhibitors, as potential antidiabetic drugs. N.G. Oikonomakos, M.N. Kosmopoulou, E.D. Chrysina, D.D. Leonidas, I.D. Kostas, K.U. Wendt, T. Klabunde, and E. Defossa (2005). Protein Sci. 14, 1760-1771

Kinetic and crystallographic studies on 2-((-D-glucopyranosyl)-5-methyl-1,3,4-oxadiazole,-benothiazole, and -benzimidazole, inhibitors of muscle glycogen phosphorylase b. Evidence for a new binding site.E.D. Chrysina, M.N. Kosmopoulou, C. Tiraidis, R. Kardakaris, N. Bischler, D.D. Leonidas, Z. Hadady, L. Somsak, T. Docsa, P. Gergely, and N.G. Oikonomakos. (2005). Protein Sci. 14, 873-888

Binding of beta-D-glucopyranosyl bismethoxyphosphoramidate to glycogen phosphorylase b: Kinetic and crystallographic studies. E.D. Chrysina, M.N. Kosmopoulou, R. Kardakaris, N. Bischler, D.D. Leonidas, T. Kannan, D. Loganathan, and N.G. Oikonomakos (2005). Bioorg. Med. Chem. 13 , 765-772.

Binding of the potential antitumour agent indirubin-5-sulphonate at the inhibitor site of rabbit muscle glycogen phosphorylase b. M.N. Kosmopoulou, D.D. Leonidas, E.D. Chrysina, N. Bischler, G. Eisenbrand, C.E. Sakarellos, R. Pauptit, and N.G. Oikonomakos. (2004) Eur. J. Biochem.271, 2280-2290.

High resolution crystal structures of Ribonuclease A complexed with adenylic and uridylic nucleotide inhibitors. Implications for structure-based design of ribonucleolytic inhibitors. D.D. Leonidas, G.B. Chavali, N.G. Oikonomakos, E.D. Chrysina, M.N. Kosmopoulou, M.Vlassi, C. Frankling, and K.R. Acharya (2003) Protein Sci. 12, 2559-2574. Cover Story

Crystallographic studies on alpha- and beta-D-glucopyranosyl formamide analogues, inhibitors of glycogen phosphorylase. E.D. Chrysina, N.G. Oikonomakos, S.E. Zographos, M.N. Kosmopoulou, N. Bischler, D.D. Leonidas, L. Kovacs, T. Docsa, P. Gergely, and L. Somsak (2003) Biocatal. & Biotransfor. 21, 233-242.

The binding of beta- and gamma-cyclodextrins to glycogen phosphorylase b: kinetic and crystallographic studies.N. Pinotsis, D.D. Leonidas, E.D. Chrysina, N.G. Oikonomakos, and I.M. Mavridis (2003) Protein Sci. 12, 1914-1924. Cover Story

Crystal structure of rabbit muscle glycogen phosphorylase a in complex with a potential hypoglycaemic drug at 2.0 A resolution. N.G. Oikonomakos, E.D. Chrysina, M.N. Kosmopoulou, and D.D. Leonidas (2003) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1647, 325-332.

Crystallization and preliminary X-ray crystallographic analysis of Sclerotium rolfssii lectin.D.D. Leonidas, B.M. Swamy, A.G. Bhat, S.R. Inamdar, M.N. Kosmopoulou, E.D. Chrysina, and N.G. Oikonomakos (2003) Acta Cryst. D59, 363-365.

Guest-host crosstalk in angiogenin/RNase A chimeric protein.D.E. Holloway, R. Shapiro, M.C. Hares, D.D. Leonidas and K.R. Acharya (2002) Biochemistry 41, 10482-10489.

Charcot-Leyden Crystal protein (galectin-10) is not a dual-function galectin with lysophospholipase activity, but binds a lysophospholipase inhibitor in a novel structural function. S.J. Ackerman, L. Liu, M.A. Kwatia, M.P. Savage, D.D. Leonidas, G.J. Swaminathan, and K.R. Acharya (2002) J. Biol. Chem. 277, 14859-14868.

The binding of N-acetyl- and N-benzoyl-N' -beta-D-glucopyranosyl urea to glycogen phosphorylase b: Kinetic and crystallographic studies. N.G. Oikonomakos, M. Kosmopoulou, S.E. Zographos, D.D. Leonidas, L. Somsak, V. Nagy, J.-P. Praly, T. Docsa, B. Toth, & P. Gergely (2002) Eur. J. Biochem. 269, 1684-1696. Cover Story

Crystallographic Studies on the Role of the C-terminal Segment of Human Angiogenin in Defining Enzymatic Potency. D.D. Leonidas, R. Shapiro, G.V. Subbarao, A. Russo & K.R. Acharya (2002) Biochemistry 41, 2552-2562.

Cleavage of 3',5'-pyrophosphate-linked dinucleotides by Ribonuclease A and Angiogenin.A.M. Jardine, D.D. Leonidas, J.L. Jenkins, C. Park, R.T. Raines, K.R. Acharya & R. Shapiro (2001) Biochemistry 40, 10262-10272.

Binding of phosphate and pyrophosphate ions at the active site of human angiogenin as revealed by X-ray crystallography.D.D. Leonidas, G.B. Chavali, A.M. Jardine, S. Li, R. Shapiro & K.R. Acharya (2001) Protein Sci. 10, 1669-1676.

Crystal structure of the Eosinophil Major Basic Protein at 1.8A: An atypical lectin with a paradigm shift in specificity. G.J. Swaminathan, A.J. Weaver, D.A. Loegering, J.L. Checkel , D.D. Leonidas, G.J. Gleich & K.R. Acharya (2001) J. Biol. Chem. 276, 26197-26203

Crystallization and preliminary investigations on a telomeric repeat sequence C4 A2C4A2.G. Savitha, D. Leonidas, K.R. Acharya & M.A. Viswamitra (2001) Acta Cryst. D57, 873-875.

Mapping the ribonucleolytic active site of eosinophil-derived neurotoxin (EDN): High resolution crystal structures of EDN complexes with adenylic nucleotide inhibitors D.D. Leonidas, E. Boix, R. Prill, M. Suzuki, R. Turton, K. Minson, G.J. Swaminathan, R.J. Youle, & K.R. Acharya (2001). J. Biol. Chem. 276, 15009-15017

The crystal structure of Human Placenta Growth Factor-1 (PlGF-1), an angiogenic protein at 2.0 A resolution S. Iyer, D.D. Leonidas, G.J. Swaminathan, D. Maglione, M. Battisti, M. Tucci, M. G. Persico, & K.R. Acharya (2001). J. Biol. Chem., 276, 12153-12161 (first two authors contributed equally to this work)

The crystal structure of the Fab fragment of a rat monoclonal antibody against the main immunogenic region of the human muscle acetylcholine receptor. M. Kontou, D.D. Leonidas, E.H. Vatzaki, P. Tsantili, A. Mamalaki, N.G. Oikonomakos, K.R. Acharya & S.J. Tzartos (2000). Eur. J. Biochem., 267, 2389-2397.