Norbert O. Reich

Norbert O. Reich is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), affiliated with the College of Letters and Science. He joined UCSB in 1987 after completing his Ph.D. at UCSF in 1984 and an NIH postdoctoral fellowship there. His research focuses on enzyme mechanisms, particularly DNA methylation and telomerase, with applications in antibiotic and cancer therapy design. He also develops innovative chemical biology tools, including gold nanoshell-based drug delivery systems and fluorescence-based protein tracking methods.

Education: Ph.D. in Chemistry from UCSF (1984). Awards: Regent's Junior Faculty Fellowship (1987), American Cancer Society Faculty Research Award (1991), UC President's Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research (1994).

Research Interests:

• Epigenetic regulation via DNA methylation in bacteria and mammals
• Enzyme mechanisms of DNA methyltransferases (e.g., DNMT3A, CcrM)
• Design of therapeutic inhibitors targeting epigenetic enzymes
• Light-controlled delivery of proteins/RNA via gold nanoshells
• Protein-DNA interaction analysis using microfluidic arrays

Awards and Recognition: His honors reflect contributions to both research and education, emphasizing his dual impact in science and teaching.

Lab and Collaborations: Leads the Reich Lab, collaborating with researchers like Tom Pettus (UCSB) and Erkki Ruoslahti. Projects include antibiotic development, cancer epigenetics, and nanotechnology-driven drug delivery.

Future Work: Expanding applications of nanoshell technology for targeted gene silencing and exploring allosteric inhibitors of DNMT3A for cancer treatment.