Kazlauskas Group St. Croix River canoe trip, August 2015
Back: Yu Xin, Romas Kazlauskas, Paul Shafer, Nate Mylrea, Titu Devamani
Front: Jonas Kazlauskas, Gloria Wang, Avi Mylrea, Aleli Balagtas, Tania Titu Devamani
Kazlauskas Lab Contact Information:
Laboratory: 174 Gortner Lab
Phone: (612) 624-5960
Research Examples:
- Ionic liquids & deep eutectic solvents
- Metal substituted carbonic anhydrase for oxidations and reduction
Current Students and Postdocs
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Zsofia Bata |
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Titu Devamani Hometown: Chennai, India Research: My goal is to discover enzymes that catalyze reactions for bio-based synthesis and to enhance these reactions. Since these reactions are non-natural reactions, we are searching for this activity in ancestral enzymes where it can occur accidentally since ancestral enzymes can be catalytically promiscuous. |
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Bryan Jones Hometown: Anacortes, WA Research: To develop novel biocatalysts, it is best to start with an enzyme that already has some desirable activity and one that is very stable. My work focuses on stabilizing enzymes and using recreated ancestral enzymes to identify promiscuous reactions. |
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Huey Yee Lim Hometown: Penang Island, Malaysia Research: Natural biocatalysts are often not good enough for industrial use due to low enantioselectivity, stability or catalytic performance. I’m making better, more stable enzymes by error prone PCR and high throughout screening. |
Nate Mylrea |
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Paul Shafer |
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David Sundaram |
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Jerry (Qingbao) Qing |
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Xiao Yi |
Former Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Fellows
Name, Years |
Degree |
Title of Project |
Present Position |
Tyler Yin 2005-2011 |
Ph.D. |
Engineering Better Perhydrolases |
postdoctoral fellow, University of British Columbia |
Jonathan Gorke 2005-2010 |
Ph.D. |
Recovery of renewable materials using ionic liquids |
engineer, ConocoPhillips, Bartlesville OK |
Yun Jiang |
Ph.D. |
How acyltransferases differ from lipases postdoctoral fellow |
postdoctoral fellow, University of Minnesota |
Paul Mugford |
Ph.D. |
Subtilisin-catalyzed hydrolysis of sulfinamides |
research scientist, Ocean Nutrition, Halifax, Canada |
Christopher Savile |
Ph.D. |
Structure-based design of protease reactions |
Director of Commercial Operations, Intrexon, South San Francisco, CA |
Krista Morley |
Ph.D. |
Molecular basis for improved enantioselectivity |
Scientist, Merck Process Research, Rahway, NJ |
Jeremy Cheeseman |
Ph.D. |
Pseudo-dynamic combinatorial chemistry for drug discovery |
high school science teacher, Ottawa, ON, Canada |
Alessandra Mezzetti |
Ph.D. |
Enantioselectivity of lipases toward primary alcohols |
patent examiner, Canadian Patent Office, Ottawa, Canada |
Seongsoon Park |
Ph.D. |
Improving the enantioselectivity of lipases |
assistant professor, Sungshin Women's University, Seoul, Korea |
Alexandra Weissfloch |
Ph.D. |
Predictive models for hydrolase enantioselectivity |
assistant professor, Malaspina University-College, Nanaimo, BC, Canada |
Lana Janes |
Ph.D. |
Screening methods to identify stereoselective hydrolases |
patent agent, QLT Inc., Vancouver, Canada |
Ian Colton |
Ph.D. |
Models of ion pumps & resolutions with lipases |
patent agent, Gowlings, Ottawa, Canada |
Joanne Krupa |
Ph.D. |
Coenzyme analogs in dehydrogenase-catalyzed reactions |
scientist, Targanta Therapeutics, Montréal, Canada |
Alessio N. Serreqi |
Ph.D. |
Resolution of phosphines and sulfoxides with hydrolases |
director of manufacturing, Biosyntech, Laval, (Québec) Canada |
Gaetan Caron |
Ph.D. |
Optimized sequential kinetic resolution |
vice president of R&D and regulatory affairs, Bioxel Pharma, Sainte-Foy (Québec) Canada |
Joanna Mooney 2012-2014 |
M.S. |
Resurrecting ancestral a/b-hydrolases |
scientist BDW Tech |
Max Tan 2011-2013 |
M.S. |
Catalytic promiscuity of hydroxynitrile lyase |
tba |
Graig Legatt |
M.S. |
Creating new catalytic activities |
Lab technician, SMC Ltd, Somerset, WI USA |
Jiun-Guo (Jason) Yu |
M.S. |
Introduce epoxide hydrolase activity ino an esterase |
exectutive assistant for VP of Sales in Shinih Enterprise Co., Ltd. |
Amina Clarisse Lobban |
M.S. |
Increasing the enantioselectivity of lipases |
bioengineer, Shire Human Genetic Therapies, Cambridge, MA |
Harjap Grewal |
M.Sc. |
Molecular basis for the regioselectivity of lipases |
graduate student, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada |
Vladimir Magloire |
M.Sc. |
Enzyme-catalyzed resolution of sulfinamides |
clinical research associate, Icon Research, Montreal, Canada |
Geoff Horsman |
M.Sc. |
Directed evolution of more enatioselective hydrolases |
Assistant Professor, Wilfrid Laurier U., Waterloo, ON, Canada |
Andrew Man Fai Liu |
M.Sc. |
Novel lipases by directed evolution |
scientist, Hong Kong Institute of Technology, China |
Neil Somers |
M.Sc. |
Mapping the substrate selectivity of new hydrolases |
researcher |
W. Victor Tuomi |
M.Sc. |
Molecular modeling of lipase-substrate interactions |
patent agent, Ballard Power Systems, Vancouver, Canada |
Sharmin Ahmed |
M.Sc. |
Kinetic resolution of carboxylic acids by lipase |
MBA student, Concordia U., Montréal |
Christine Ng-Youn-Chen |
M.Sc. |
Kinetic resolution of pipecolinic acid with hydrolases |
Dentist, Ottawa, ON |
Hui Lin 2011-2014 |
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Experimental evolution of Trichoderma |
Post Doctoral Student, UC Davis |
Alissa Goble |
postdoc |
Ancestral enzymes and the evolution of new catalytic activities |
Scientist, MPI Research, Mattawan MI |
Alexis Powell |
postdoc |
Experimental evolution of Trichoderma |
Assistant Professor, Emporia State U |
Jan van Langermann 2012 |
postdoc |
Protein engineering of hydroxynitrile lyase |
Group Leader, University of Rostock, Germany |
Santosh Kumar Padhi |
postdoc |
Engineering hydroxyhitrile lyase activity |
Assistant Professor, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, India |
Qing Jing |
postdoc. |
Metal substituted carbonic anhydrases |
scientist, Microconsult Dallas, TX |
Ryota Fujii |
postdoc. |
Directed evolution of lipases |
scientist, Mitsui Chemicals Inc. Japan |
Adrian Katona |
postdoc |
Enzyme-catalyzed perhydrolysis |
postdoctoral fellow, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA |
Krzysztof Okrasa |
postdoc |
Redox reactions in bioorganic chemistry |
scientist, Heptares Therapeutics, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, UK |
Enikö Forró |
postdoc |
Enzymatic resolution of b-amino acid precursors |
researcher, University of Szeged |
Ronghua Shu |
postdoc |
Directed evolution of pharmaceuticals |
programmer/analyst, Milgram Group, Montréal |
Christine Guerard |
postdoc |
Directed evolution of lipases |
assistant professor, Universite Blaise Pascal - Clermont-Ferrand, France |
Christina Löwendahl |
postdoc |
Enantioselective screening of lipases |
scientist, AstraZeneca R&D Mölndal , Sweden |
Hedda Weber |
postdoc |
Enantioselective screening of lipases in organic solvents |
Lenzing R&D |
Chan-Seong Cheong |
postdoc |
Synthesis of transition state analogs |
scientist, drug synthesis laboratory, KIST, Seoul, Korea |
Xiaoming (Michael) Zhang |
postdoc |
Chiral materials for nonlinear optical applications |
San Diego, CA |
Ajay Gupta |
postdoc |
Increasing the enantioselectivity of lipases by substrate modification |
Chairman & CEO, Osta Biopharma, Montreal, Canada |