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Paul Sapienza

Assistant Professor

Paul Sapienza

Assistant Professor


Paul-Sapienza

PHONE
919-843-5442
EMAIL
sapienza@email.unc.edu
ADDRESS
4118J Marsico Hall, 125 Mason Farm Road, CB# 7363, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-7363
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Paul Sapienza is a research assistant professor in the Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. His research aims to further understanding of the role of dynamics in biomolecular recognition, enzymatic catalysis, and allostery. He uses nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to study protein dynamics on multiple timescales, while other tools such as calorimetry, crystallography, and kinetics serve to link dynamics with function. He is focusing on thymidylate synthase as it is an enzyme with a multistep catalytic cycle, is a cancer drug target, and exhibits negative cooperativity (allostery).

Sapienza received his PhD from the University of Pittsburgh in 2005 and completed postdoctoral fellowships at Pitt and at UNC-Chapel Hill before joining the School’s faculty in 2011.


  • Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Pittsburgh
  • PhD in Molecular Biology, University of Pittsburgh
  • BS in Biology, James Madison University