Angela Wilks

Dr. Angela Wilks is the Isaac E. Emerson Professor and Program Chair in Chemical & Biological Discovery at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences. She leads an active research laboratory focused on bacterial heme metabolism and iron homeostasis in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a major opportunistic pathogen.

• University: University of Maryland
• School: School of Pharmacy
• Department: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences
• Rank: Professor

Her research integrates bacterial genetics, metabolomics, proteomics, and biophysical methods to understand how pathogens acquire heme as an iron source during infection. Her work has elucidated mechanisms of heme uptake, trafficking, and regulation, leading to the structural characterization of key proteins and the development of novel antimicrobial strategies.

The trends in her recent publications reveal a strong focus on molecular mechanisms of heme signaling, regulation by sRNAs and metabolites, structural enzymology of heme oxygenase, and the design of inhibitors targeting heme metabolism. These studies span biochemistry, microbiology, and medicinal chemistry, with implications for treating antibiotic-resistant infections.

• Isaac E. Emerson Chair of Pharmaceutical Sciences

Dr. Wilks mentors a dynamic team of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, including joint students with Professors Fengtian Xue and Maureen Kane. Her lab has secured competitive NIH fellowships (F31, Diversity Supplements) and industry partnerships (Genentech). She collaborates extensively and has contributed to major resources like the Pseudomonas aeruginosa Metabolome Database (PAMDB).

She leads the Wilks Lab, which investigates intracellular heme trafficking, regulation of heme uptake systems (Has and Phu), and the development of antimicrobial inhibitors targeting heme sensing and utilization. The lab employs high-throughput screening, NMR, HDX-MS, and biochemical assays in its therapeutic development efforts.