Chris Malarkey

Malarkey's lab currently has two projects, both working with the protein Sox2, a member of the high mobility group box family of transcription factors. He is interested in investigating the ability of Sox2 to bind and interact with bacterial signaling molecules such as lipopolysaccharides (LPS). Malarkey's lab recently discovered that Sox2 contains an LPS binding motif and is currently investigating how the Sox2/LPS interaction affects the progression to gastric cancer. The second project focuses on how posttranslational modifications to Sox2 that lead to stem cell pluripotency affect the DNA binding and bending profile of Sox2.

Malarkey's teaching style focuses on a discussion-based classroom environment where students are actively engaged in the subject matter. He feels this teaching style made him a natural fit for the Team Based Learning method employed in the School of Pharmacy at Regis University. While in the classroom, he encourages students to look at the underlying assumptions for a particular theory that they may be working on. For example, when teaching protein/ligand binding, he asks students what are the assumptions made by a lock and key mechanism versus an induced fit model? He likes to make the students aware that there are several ways of thinking about the same phenomenon, and encourages openly asking questions. He feels that this helps generate dialogue between students and therefore encourages them to critically examine key concepts in the physical sciences.

Before teaching at Regis University, Malarkey taught biochemical concepts to first year graduate students and medical students during his postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. During his graduate studies in chemistry, he taught general chemistry, organic chemistry, physical chemistry, and biochemistry to both undergraduate and graduate students.