Constance J. Jeffery, PhD

The genome projects yielded the sequences of tens of thousands of proteins. Elucidating the roles these proteins play in health and disease, and also how they can be used and/or modified for the development of novel therapeutics, biomaterials, biosensors, methods for energy production and methods for environmental remediation, will be aided by a better understanding of how a protein's amino acid sequence determines its structure and how structure determines function.  The Jeffery lab's research on protein structure and function combines methods from biophysics (X-ray crystallography, Cryo-electron microscopy), biochemistry, and bioinformatics to address questions such as: how does an enzyme bind to its substrate and convert it to product? how do two similar proteins perform different functions? how do some proteins perform multiple, unrelated moonlighting functions? can we find small molecules that disrupt proteins in cancer and other diseases and that can serve as drug leads? and how do mutations in proteins associated with disease affect the proteins’ structures and functions?  In addition to research, Prof. Jeffery teaches upper level undergraduate biochemistry courses and leads the UICHeart summer program for undergraduate research supported by a grant from the American Heart Association.

She is a Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Bioengineering, and a Member of the UIC Cancer Center. In 2021 she was elected a Fellow of the AAAS.

(Complete list of publications on Google Scholar)

1. Asif A, Farache N, Farache W, Hossain A, Harish P, Jeffery CJ. MoonProt 4.0: 2026 Update of the Moonlighting Proteins Database. J Mol Biol. 2026 Apr 30:169840. doi: 10.1016/j.jmb.2026.169840. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 42069294.
2. Curtis NJ, Patel KJ, Rizwan A, Jeffery CJ. Moonlighting Proteins: Diverse Functions Found in Fungi. J Fungi (Basel). 2023 Nov 15;9(11):1107. doi: 10.3390/jof9111107. PMID: 37998912; PMCID: PMC10672435.
3. Constance J Jeffery, MSFP: Undergraduate “Collaborate from Home” Research in Macromolecular Structure and Function, Bioinformatics Advances, 2023;, vbad074, https://doi.org/10.1093/bioadv/vbad074
4. Jeffery CJ. Updating MoonProt From Home: An Online Student Research Project During the COVID-19 Pandemic The Biophysicist 2021 2 (2): 23–27. https://doi.org/10.35459/tbp.2021.000190
5. Curtis NJ, Jeffery CJ. The expanding world of metabolic enzymes moonlighting as RNA binding proteins. Biochem Soc Trans. 2021 Jun 30;49(3):1099-1108. doi: 10.1042/BST20200664. PMID: 34110361.
6. Jeffery CJ. (2019) An enzyme in the test tube, and a transcription factor in the cell: moonlighting proteins and cellular factors that affect their behavior. Protein Sci. 2019 May 14. doi: 10.1002/pro.3645.
7. Jeffery CJ. (2019) The demise of catalysis, but new functions arise: pseudoenzymes as the phoenixes of the protein world. Biochem Soc Trans. 2019 Feb 28;47(1):371-379. doi: 10.1042/BST20180473.
8. C. J. Jeffery (2019) Intracellular/surface moonlighting proteins that aid in the attachment of gut microbiota to the host. AIMS Microbiology 5(1): 77-86. doi: 10.3934/microbiol.2019.1.77
9. C. J. Jeffery (2019) The use of proteomics studies in identifying moonlighting proteins in Functional Proteomics: Methods and Protocols eds. Xing Wang, and Mattrew Kuruc, Springer Science and Business Media, LLC, New York. 437-443.
10. C. J. Jeffery (2018) Intracellular proteins moonlighting as bacterial adhesion factors. AIMS Microbiology. 4(2): 362–376. DOI: 10.3934/microbiol.2018.2.362
11. Bhatt F, Patel V, Jeffery CJ. (2018) Open Conformation of the Escherichia coli Periplasmic Murein Tripeptide Binding Protein, MppA, at High Resolution. Biology (Basel). 7(2). pii: E30. doi: 10.3390/biology7020030. PMID: 29783769
12. C. J. Jeffery. (2018) Protein moonlighting: What is it, and why is it important. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. Jan 19;373(1738). pii: 20160523. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2016.0523. PMID:29203708
13. C. J. Jeffery. (2017) Moonlighting Proteins – Nature’s Swiss Army Knives.  Science Progress. Nov 17;100(4):363-373. doi: 10.3184/003685017X15063357842574. PMID: 29113626
14. W. Wang and C. J. Jeffery. (2016) An Analysis of Surface Proteomics Results Reveals Novel Candidates for Intracellular/Surface Moonlighting Proteins in Bacteria. Molecular BIoSystems. 12(5):1420-31. doi: 10.1039/c5mb00550g. PMID: 26938107.
15. C. J. Jeffery. (2016) Protein Species and Moonlighting Proteins: Very Small Changes in a Protein’s Covalent Structure Can Change its Biochemical Function. Journal of Proteomics. 134:19-24.doi: 10.1016/j.jprot.2015.10.003. PMID: 26455812.
16. C. J. Jeffery. (2016) Expression, Solubilization and Purification of Bacterial Membrane Proteins. Current Protocols in Protein Science. 83:29.15.1-29.15.15. doi: 10.1002/0471140864.ps2915s83 PMID: 26836409.
17. Amblee, V. and C. J. Jeffery. (2015) Physical Features of Intracellular Proteins that Moonlight on the Cell Surface.  PLOS One. 10(6):e0130575. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0130575. eCollection 2015. PMID: 26110848.

PhD, University of California at Berkeley

BS, Massachusetts Institute of Technology