# Chemical probes of protein histidine phosphatase activity

> **NIH NIH R21** · UTAH STATE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM--UNIVERSITY OF UTAH · 2020 · $228,750

## Abstract

Project Summary
Protein histidine phosphorylation plays an important role in several key signaling pathways in
mammals but is very poorly understood. The main reasons for this dearth of information about
histidine phosphorylation are the relative instability of pHis as compared to pSer, pThr, and pTyr
and a complete lack of chemical tools available to monitor and modulate the enzymes involved
in histidine phosphorylation and dephosphorylation. In this project, we will develop fluorogenic
assays that can be applied to monitoring both histidine phosphatase and histidine kinase activity
and identify the first histidine phosphatase inhibitors from a series of focused screening efforts.
This project is submitted in response to PAR-17-046 “Exploratory Research for Technology
Development (R21)” and, as indicated in the PAR, is focused on the development of innovative,
enabling technologies for studying histidine phosphorylation and dephosphorylation. Future
work would center around applying these tools to developing a better understanding of the roles
individual histidine phosphatases in mammalian cells.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9899261
- **Project number:** 5R21GM127970-02
- **Recipient organization:** UTAH STATE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM--UNIVERSITY OF UTAH
- **Principal Investigator:** AMY M BARRIOS
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $228,750
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-04-01 → 2022-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9899261

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9899261, Chemical probes of protein histidine phosphatase activity (5R21GM127970-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9899261. Licensed CC0.

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