Rate My Professor Brian Monk

Monk's research centers on molecular microbiology and structure-directed antifungal drug discovery. He utilizes molecular genetic manipulation of yeast and bacterial systems to express membrane protein drug targets like P-type ATPases, fungal glucan synthase, cytochrome P450 enzymes including lanosterol 14α-demethylase (CYP51), drug efflux pumps, transcription factors, and enzymes in riboflavin biosynthesis. His team has determined high-resolution X-ray crystal structures of fungal CYP51 and Candida glabrata lumazine synthase. In 2003, he patented a yeast expression system employed globally for membrane proteins from pathogenic fungi, plants, and humans. Notable publications include 'Efflux-mediated antifungal drug resistance' (Clinical Microbiology Reviews, 2009), 'Oral Candida: clearance, colonization, or candidiasis?' (Journal of Dental Research, 1995), 'Architecture of a single membrane spanning cytochrome P450 suggests constraints that orient the catalytic domain relative to a bilayer' (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2014), 'Structural insights into binding of the antifungal drug fluconazole to Saccharomyces cerevisiae lanosterol 14α-demethylase' (Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, 2015), and 'Outwitting multidrug resistance to antifungals' (Science, 2008). He has received Health Research Council of New Zealand funding, including a $1,197,552 project grant in 2016 for next-generation antifungals targeting CYP51. His contributions elucidate resistance mechanisms and advance novel antifungal development.