Research Interests

Extracellular matrix biochemistry; synthetic protein design and construction; metalloproteinases; chemical biology; tumor cell biology/signal transduction; proteases in neurodegenerative diseases; solid-phase peptide synthesis methodology.

Biography

Gregg B. Fields, Ph.D., earned bachelor’s and doctorate degrees in chemistry from the University of Florida and Florida State University, respectively, and was a postdoctoral scholar with Ken A. Dill, professor at the University of California at San Francisco.

Fields joined the faculty at the University of Minnesota in 1991 as an assistant professor. He was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 1995 and then achieved the rank of full professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) in 1997.

In 2008, he became a Robert A. Welch Foundation Distinguished University Chair in Chemistry in the Department of Biochemistry at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Fields relocated to the Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies in 2011, where he was a full member, vice president of Research, and Distinguished Chair of Metalloproteinase and Multiple Sclerosis Research.

He returned to FAU in 2014 as a full professor and chair in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the director of the Center for Molecular Biology and Biotechnology. In 2019, he was appointed executive director of FAU’s Institute for Human Health and Disease Intervention, and in 2021 he became the co-director of the Memorial Cancer Institute Florida Atlantic University Cancer Center for Excellence. Fields is also a courtesy professor in the Department of Chemistry at the Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation and Technology.

The Fields research group has focused on extracellular protease-based diseases, with particular attention paid to tumor metastasis, arthritis, and neurodegenerative diseases. His research interests are in the use of chemical approaches to better understand how protein three-dimensional structures influence cellular and enzymatic behaviors. Chemical approaches were used to develop mini-protein models for the study of cellular recognition processes, which in turn allowed for the mapping of protein domains involved in cell binding and signal transduction. Mini-protein models were subsequently utilized to dissect the mechanisms of collagen catabolism, and in the process provided new avenues for protease inhibitor design.

Fields is also an elected Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has authored or coauthored more than 300 scientific publications and has presented more than 190 invited lectures.

Recent Publications

• Manishabrata Bhowmick, Dorota Tokmina-Roszyk, Lillian Onwuha-Ekpete, Kelli Harmon, Trista Robichaud, Rita Fuerst, Roma Stawikowska, Bjorn Steffensen, William R. Roush, Hector Wong, and Gregg B. Fields. Second Generation Triple-Helical Peptide Transition State Analog Matrix Metalloproteinase Inhibitors.  J. Med. Chem.  60, 3814-3827 (2017).
• Michal Tokmina-Roszyk and Gregg B. Fields. Dissecting MMP P10’ and P11’ Subsite Sequence Preferences, Utilizing a Positional Scanning, Combinatorial Triple-Helical Peptide Library.  J. Biol. Chem.   293, 16661-16676 (2018).
• Anna M. Knapinska, Chandani Singh, Gary Drotleff, Daniela Blanco, Cedric Chai, Jason Schwab, Anu Herd, and Gregg B. Fields. Matrix Metalloproteinase 13 Inhibitors for Modulation of Osteoclastogenesis: Enhancement of Solubility and Stability.  ChemMedChem   16, 1133-1142 (2021).
• Hou-Fu Guo, N. Bota-Rabassedas, Priyam Banerjee, Masahiko Terajima, Bertha L. Rodriguez, Don L. Gibbons, Yulong Chen, Chi-Lin Tsai, Xin Liu, Jiang Yu, Xiaochao Tan, Michal Tokmina-Roszyk, Roma Stawikowska, Gregg B. Fields, Mitchell D. Miller, George N. Phillips, Jr., John A. Tainer, Mitsuo Yamauchi, and Jonathan M. Kurie. A collagen glucosyltransferase drives lung adenocarcinoma progression.  Nat. Commun. Biol.   4, 482 (2021).
• Lillian Onwuha-Ekpete and Gregg B. Fields. Application of a triple-helical peptide inhibitor of MMP-2/MMP-9 to examine T-cell activation in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.  Pept. Sci.  114, e24262 (2022).
• Anna M. Knapinska, Gary Drotleff, Cedric Chai, Destiny Twohill, Alexa Ernce, Isabella Grande, Michelle Rodríguez, Dorota Tokmina-Roszyk, Brad Larson, and Gregg B. Fields. Screening MT1-MMP Inhibitors in Three-dimensional Tumor Spheroids.  Biomedicines   11, 562 (2023).
• Zhongwei Xu, Bingze Xu, Susanna Lundström, Alex Moreno Giro, Danxia Zhao, Outi Sareila, Qixing Li, Alexander Krämer, Erik Lönnblom, Lei Cheng, Bibo Liang, Myriam Martin, Anna Blom, Roma Stawikowska, Gregg B. Fields, Roman Zubarev, and Rikard Holmdahl. Recombinant monoclonal antibody to collagen F4 epitope abrogates arthritis by targeting FCGR3 on neutrophils.  Nat. Commun., accepted for publication (2023).
• Methods for the Construction of Collagen-Based Triple-Helical Peptides Designed as Matrix Metalloproteinase Inhibitors. Methods Mol Biol. 2019;1944:229-252 Fields GB
• Characterization and regulation of MT1-MMP cell surface-associated activity. Chem Biol Drug Des. 2018 Nov 27;: Pahwa S, Bhowmick M, Amar S, Cao J, Strongin AY, Fridman R, Weiss SJ, Fields GB
• MT1-MMP Binds Membranes by Opposite Tips of Its β Propeller to Position It for Pericellular Proteolysis. Structure. 2019 Feb 05;27(2):281-292.e6 Marcink TC, Simoncic JA, An B, Knapinska AM, Fulcher YG, Akkaladevi N, Fields GB, Van Doren SR
• Regenerative Medicine in the State of Florida: Letter Outlining the Florida Organization for Regenerative Medicine. Stem Cells Transl Med. 2018 Jul;7(7):511-512 Bruce CJ, Bu G, Centanni JM, Davis MD, Dobson J, Hare JM, Fields GB, Jove R, Kenyon N, Khan A, March K, Matosevic S, Mahmood A, Pepine CJ, Ricordi C, Shapiro SA, Zylberberg C, Zylberberg E
• Development of matrix metalloproteinase-13 inhibitors - A structure-activity/structure-property relationship study. Bioorg Med Chem. 2018 10 01;26(18):4984-4995 Fuerst R, Yong Choi J, Knapinska AM, Smith L, Cameron MD, Ruiz C, Fields GB, Roush WR
• Dissecting MMP P10' and P11' subsite sequence preferences, utilizing a positional scanning, combinatorial triple-helical peptide library. J Biol Chem. 2018 10 26;293(43):16661-16676 Tokmina-Roszyk M, Fields GB
• The RUNX1/IL-34/CSF-1R axis is an autocrinally regulated modulator of resistance to BRAF-V600E inhibition in melanoma. JCI Insight. 2018 Jul 26;3(14): Giricz O, Mo Y, Dahlman KB, Cotto-Rios XM, Vardabasso C, Nguyen H, Matusow B, Bartenstein M, Polishchuk V, Johnson DB, Bhagat TD, Shellooe R, Burton E, Tsai J, Zhang C, Habets G, Greally JM, Yu Y, Kenny PA, Fields GB, Pradhan K, Stanley ER, Bernstein E, Bollag G, Gavathiotis E, West BL, Sosman JA, Verma AK
• Tricine as a convenient scaffold for the synthesis of C-terminally branched collagen-model peptides. Tetrahedron Lett. 2018 Jan 10;59(2):130-134 Stawikowski MJ, Fields GB
• Conformational Dynamics of Matrix Metalloproteinase-1·Triple-Helical Peptide Complexes. J Phys Chem B. 2018 05 31;122(21):5316-5326 Karabencheva-Christova TG, Christov CZ, Fields GB
• Suppression and resolution of autoimmune arthritis by rhesus θ-defensin-1, an immunomodulatory macrocyclic peptide. PLoS One. 2017;12(11):e0187868 Schaal JB, Tran DQ, Subramanian A, Patel R, Laragione T, Roberts KD, Trinh K, Tongaonkar P, Tran PA, Minond D, Fields GB, Beringer P, Ouellette AJ, Gulko PS, Selsted ME

Awards

• McKnight-Land Grant Professorship, University of Minnesota, 1993-1995.
• National Institutes of Health Research Career Development Award, 1994-1999.
• Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities Excellence Award in Peptide Synthesis Research, 1997.
• Researcher of the Year Award (Full Professor), FAU, 2000-2001.
• Profiled in Time Magazine 163(23), June 7, 2004, “The Secrets Of Their Success,” pg. 107-110.
• Distinguished Visiting Professor, Imperial College London, 2004.
• Researcher of the Year Award (Full Professor), FAU, 2005-2006.
• Robert A. Welch Foundation Distinguished University Chair in Chemistry, UTHSCSA, 2008-2010.
• Distinguished Chair of Metalloproteinase and Multiple Sclerosis Research, TPIMS, 2010-2014.
• Arthritis & Chronic Pain Research Institute Lecturer, University of Florence, Italy, 2011.
• Elected Fellow, National Academy of Inventors, 2014.
• Elected Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 2015.
• President’s Leadership Award, FAU, 2017-2018.
• Research Park at FAU Distinguished Researcher Award, 2018.

Other Information

• Member, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2011-present.
• Member, American Cancer Society Peer Review Committee on Institutional Research Grants, 2012-2017.