Her research involves structural mechanisms underlying DNA replication and repair, neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, and microbial pathogenesis; X-ray crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy; structure-based drug design; protein-protein and protein-nucleic acid interactions, enzyme mechanisms, chemical biology, protein structure and function.
In immune compromised individual, Candida albicans result in infections that display resistance to anti-fungal therapies.
[3] The investigation and discovery of the structure of a GGTases-1 of Candida albicans provides more information for scientists to understand the protein's importance in the survival of the pathogen and suggests its potential to be targeted for disease treatment.
[2] While at Duke University in 2011, Beese, along with her colleague Eugene Wu, investigated the structural adaptation of DNA Polymerase observed during the recognition and correction of incorrect base pairing.
[5] By integrating high-resolution X-ray structures with functional studies and computational analyses, the Beese lab has been able to elucidate key features that determine high-fidelity DNA replication.