Faculty & Staff

Headshot of Dr.Julie  Pollock

Dr. Julie Pollock

Associate Professor of Chemistry
Interdisciplinary Program Coordinator, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
  • Profile

    The research interests of the Pollock Lab are highly interdisciplinary and focus primarily on using chemical biology approaches to understand disease development and progression. Students learn and apply techniques in organic synthesis, protein biochemistry, biophysical and bioanalytical chemistry, and cancer cell biology. We leverage collaborations, both on-campus and off-campus, to answer difficult scientific questions. Our motivation comes from the desire to detect, prevent, understand, and combat diseases. More specifically, we utilize synthesized small molecules to probe protein function, work to comprehend native functions of proteins, and manipulate the function of proteins to our advantage.

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    • Grants and Fellowships

      Henry Dreyfus Teacher Scholar Award, "Interdisciplinary Chemical Biology: Advancing Drug Discovery and Understanding Disease Mechanisms," 2025


      National Institutes of Health – National Institute of General Medical Sciences, "Use of a novel tricyclic Stk1 inhibitor to uncover molecular mechanism in clinically relevant strains of S. aureus" P.I. Heather Miller, High Point University, 2023


      Jeffress Memorial Trust Grant, "Experimental and Computational Investigations of MEMO1 and its Role in Breast Cancer," 2017


      Mary Louise Andrews Award for Cancer Research, Virginia Academy of Sciences, "Development of a fluorescence-polarization assay to study MEMO1, a protein involved in breast cancer migration," 2016

    • Awards

      Gravatt Endowed Faculty Fellowship, University of Richmond, 2025


      Distinguished Educator Award, University of Richmond, 2020


      Omicron Delta Kappa Faculty Member of the Year, University of Richmond, 2019

  • Selected Publications
    Journal Articles

    Parker, H.K.*; Zizzamia, B.; Pollock, J.A. “An online interactive map of human metabolic pathways and associated genetic disorders as a tool for the biochemistry classroom.” J. Chem. Ed. 2025, 102, 2957-2962. doi: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.4c01279

    Pollock, J.A.; Parker, H.K.* “Advances in the development of prodrugs as selective modulators of estrogen receptors.” J. Endocrin. Soc. 2022, 6(12), bvac158. doi: 10.1210/jendso/bvac158

    Paul, L.*; Enkhbold, K.*; Robinson, S.*; Aye, T.T.*; Chung, Y.*; Pollock, J.A.; Norris, M.R. “Unravelling the role of [Ru(bpy)2(OH2)2]2+ complexes in photo-activated chemotherapy.” J. Inorg. Biochem. 2022, 235, 111930.

    Berndsen, R.*; Cunningham, T.*; Kaelin, L.*; Callender, M.*; Boldog, W.D.*; Viering, B.*; King, A.*; Labban, N.*; Pollock, J.A.; Miller, H.B.; Blackledge, M.S. Fragment-based screening strategy identified brominated carbazoles as a novel antibiotic adjuvant scaffold in MRSA. ACS Med. Chem. Lett. 2022, 13, 483-491. doi: 10.1021/acsmedchemlett.1c00680 ACS Editor’s Choice Article

    Hughes, L.B.*; Labban, N.*; Conway, G.E.*; Pollock, J.A.; Leopold, M.C. “Adaptable xerogel-layered amperometric biosensor platforms on wire electrodes for clinically relevant measurements.” Sensors 2019, 19, 2584.

    Hughes, L.B.*; Labban, N.*; Conway, G.E.*; Pollock, J.A.; Leopold, M.C. “Adaptable xerogel-layered amperometric biosensor platforms on wire electrodes for clinically relevant measurements.” Sensors 2019, 19, 2584. doi: 10.3390/s19112584.

    Park, H.*; McEachon, J.D.*, Pollock, J.A. “Synthesis and characterization of hydrogen peroxide activated estrogen receptor beta ligands.” Bioorg. Med. Chem. 2019, 27, 2075-2082. doi: 10.1016/j.bmc.2019.04.003 Graphical abstract chosen for cover

    Labban, N.*; Wayu, M.B.; Steele, C.M.*; Munoz, T.S.*; Pollock, J.A.; Case, W.S.; Leopold, M.C.“First generation amperometric biosensing of galactose with xerogel-carbon nanotube layer-by-layer assemblies.” Nanomaterials 2019, 9, 42. doi: 10.3390/nano9010042

    Wayu, M.B.; Pannell, M.J.*; Labban, N.*; Case, W.S.; Pollock, J.A.; Leopold, M.C.“Functionalized carbon nanotube adsorption interfaces for electron transfer studies of galactose oxidase.” Bioelectrochemistry 2019, 125, 116-126. doi: 10.1016/j.bioelechem.2018.10.003

    Pollock, J.A.; Sharma, N.; Ippagunta, S.K.; Redecke, V.; Häcker, H.; Katzenellenbogen, J.A.“Triaryl pyrazole Toll-like receptor signaling inhibitors: Structure-activity relationships governing pan- and selective signaling inhibitors.” ChemMedChem 2018, 13, 2208-2216. doi: 10.1002/cmdc.201800417

    Newkirk, M.L.*; Rubenstein, K.J.*; Kim, J.Y.*; Labrecque, C.L.*; Airas, J.*; Taylor, C.A.*; Evans, H.D.*; McKoy, Q.*; Parish, C.A.; Pollock, J.A.“Analysis of MEMO1 binding specificity for ErbB2 using fluorescence polarization and molecular dynamics simulations.” Biochemistry 2018, 57, 5169-5181. doi: 10.1021/acs.biochem.8b00582

    Ippagunta, S.K.; Pollock, J.A.; Sharma, N.; Lin, W.; Chen, T.; Tawaratsumida, K.; High, A.A.; Min, J.; Chen, Y.; Guy, R.K.; Redecke, V.; Katzenellenbogen, J.A.; Häcker, H. “Identification of Toll-like receptor signaling inhibitors based on selective activation of hierarchically acting signaling proteins.” Sci. Signal. 2018, 11(543), eaaq1077. doi:  10.1126/scisignal.aaq1077    

    Christenson, J.L.; Butterfield, K.T.; Spoelstra, N.S.; Norris, J.D.; Josan, J.S.; Pollock, J.A.; McDonnell, D.P.; Katzenellenbogen, B.S.; Katzenellenbogen, J.A.; Richer, J.K. “MMTV-PyMT and derived Met-1 mouse mammary tumor cells as models for studying the role of the androgen receptor in triple-negative breast cancer progression.” Horm. Canc. 2017, 8(2), 69-77.

    Pollock, J.A.; Wardell, S.E.; Parent, A.A.; Stagg, D.B.; Ellison, S.J.; Alley, H.M.; Chao, C.A.; Lawrence, S.A.; Stice, J.P.; Spasojevic, I.; Baker, J.G.; Kim, S.H.; McDonnell, D.P.; Katzenellenbogen, J.A.; Norris, J.D. “Inhibiting androgen receptor nuclear entry in castration-resistant prostate cancer.” Nature: Chem. Biol. 2016, 12, 795-801.

    Pollock, J.A.; Kim, S.H.; Katzenellenbogen, J.A. “Imidoyl dichlorides as new reagents for the rapid formation of 2-aminobenzimidazoles and related azoles.” Tetrahedron Lett. 2015, 26, 6097-6099.

    Nwachukwu, J. C.; Srinivasan, S.; Bruno, N. E.; Parent, A. A.; Hughes, T. S.; Pollock, J. A.; Gjyshi, O.; Cavett, V.; Nowak, J.; Garcia-Ordonez, R. D.; Houtman, R.; Griffin, P. R.; Kojetin, D. J.; Katzenellenbogen, J. A.; Conkright, M. D.; Nettles,  K. W. “Resveratrol modulates the inflammatory response via an estrogen receptor-signal integration network.” eLife 2014, 3, e02057.

    Pollock, J. A.; Larrea, M. D.; Jasper, J. S.; McDonnell, D. P.; McCafferty, D. G. “Lysine-specific histone demethylase 1 inhibitors control breast cancer proliferation in ERα-dependent and independent manners.” ACS Chem. Biol. 2012, 7, 1221-1231.

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