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
| Photos | Lab member |
|---|---|
| Zsofia Bata Fullbright Fellow Hometown: Budapest, Hungary Research: I am using computer modeling to find why hydroxynitrilases with similar structure have different enantioselectivity. | |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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 Graduate Student in Biol. Science Hometown: tba Research: tba | |
| Paul Shafer Undergraduate Student Hometown: Grand Forks, ND Research: How did some esterases evolve into hydroxynitrile lyases? | |
| David Sundaram Undergraduate Student Hometown: La Crosse, WI Research: I am engineering enzymes to accept water-insoluble substrates. | |
| Jerry (Qingbao) Qing Visiting Professor | |
| Xiao Yi Postdoctoral Fellow Hometown: Changsha, China Research interest: To construct more stable microoganims for synthetic biology, I am hindering their ability to evolve. |
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 2003-2009 | Ph.D. | How acyltransferases differ from lipases postdoctoral fellow | postdoctoral fellow, University of Minnesota |
| Paul Mugford 2000-2006 | Ph.D. | Subtilisin-catalyzed hydrolysis of sulfinamides | research scientist, Ocean Nutrition, Halifax, Canada |
| Christopher Savile 2001-05 | Ph.D. | Structure-based design of protease reactions | Director of Commercial Operations, Intrexon, South San Francisco, CA |
| Krista Morley 2000-2005 | Ph.D. | Molecular basis for improved enantioselectivity | Scientist, Merck Process Research, Rahway, NJ |
| Jeremy Cheeseman 2000-04 | Ph.D. | Pseudo-dynamic combinatorial chemistry for drug discovery | high school science teacher, Ottawa, ON, Canada |
| Alessandra Mezzetti 1998-2003 | Ph.D. | Enantioselectivity of lipases toward primary alcohols | patent examiner, Canadian Patent Office, Ottawa, Canada |
| Seongsoon Park 2000-2003 | Ph.D. | Improving the enantioselectivity of lipases | assistant professor, Sungshin Women's University, Seoul, Korea |
| Alexandra Weissfloch 1990-99 | Ph.D. | Predictive models for hydrolase enantioselectivity | assistant professor, Malaspina University-College, Nanaimo, BC, Canada |
| Lana Janes 1993-99 | Ph.D. | Screening methods to identify stereoselective hydrolases | patent agent, QLT Inc., Vancouver, Canada |
| Ian Colton 1990-95 | Ph.D. | Models of ion pumps & resolutions with lipases | patent agent, Gowlings, Ottawa, Canada |
| Joanne Krupa 1991-95 | Ph.D. | Coenzyme analogs in dehydrogenase-catalyzed reactions | scientist, Targanta Therapeutics, Montréal, Canada |
| Alessio N. Serreqi 1988-94 | Ph.D. | Resolution of phosphines and sulfoxides with hydrolases | director of manufacturing, Biosyntech, Laval, (Québec) Canada |
| Gaetan Caron 1988-93 | 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 2006-2009 | M.S. | Introduce epoxide hydrolase activity ino an esterase | exectutive assistant for VP of Sales in Shinih Enterprise Co., Ltd. Taipei, Taiwan |
| Amina Clarisse Lobban 2005-06 | M.S. | Increasing the enantioselectivity of lipases | bioengineer, Shire Human Genetic Therapies, Cambridge, MA |
| Harjap Grewal 2000-2002 | M.Sc. | Molecular basis for the regioselectivity of lipases | graduate student, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada |
| Vladimir Magloire 1999-2001 | M.Sc. | Enzyme-catalyzed resolution of sulfinamides | clinical research associate, Icon Research, Montreal, Canada |
| Geoff Horsman 1999-2001 | M.Sc. | Directed evolution of more enatioselective hydrolases | Assistant Professor, Wilfrid Laurier U., Waterloo, ON, Canada |
| Andrew Man Fai Liu 1997-99 | M.Sc. | Novel lipases by directed evolution | scientist, Hong Kong Institute of Technology, China e-mail: liumanfai@yahoo.com |
| Neil Somers 1997-99 | M.Sc. | Mapping the substrate selectivity of new hydrolases | researcher CTS, Tel Aviv, Israel e-mail: somersneil@yahoo.com |
| W. Victor Tuomi 1996-97 | M.Sc. | Molecular modeling of lipase-substrate interactions | patent agent, Ballard Power Systems, Vancouver, Canada e-mail: vtuomi@mac.com |
| Sharmin Ahmed 1991-93 | M.Sc. | Kinetic resolution of carboxylic acids by lipase | MBA student, Concordia U., Montréal |
| Christine Ng-Youn-Chen 1989-91 | M.Sc. | Kinetic resolution of pipecolinic acid with hydrolases | Dentist, Ottawa, ON |
| Hui Lin 2011-2014 | 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 2007-2009 | postdoc | Engineering hydroxyhitrile lyase activity | Assistant Professor, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, India |
| Qing Jing 2006-2009 | postdoc. | Metal substituted carbonic anhydrases | scientist, Microconsult Dallas, TX |
| Ryota Fujii 2005-2007 | postdoc. | Directed evolution of lipases | scientist, Mitsui Chemicals Inc. Japan |
| Adrian Katona 2006-07 | postdoc | Enzyme-catalyzed perhydrolysis | postdoctoral fellow, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA |
| Krzysztof Okrasa 2004-05 | postdoc | Redox reactions in bioorganic chemistry | scientist, Heptares Therapeutics, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, UK |
| Enikö Forró 2001 | postdoc | Enzymatic resolution of b-amino acid precursors | researcher, University of Szeged e-mail: forro@pharma.szote.u-szeged.hu |
| Ronghua Shu 1999-2000 | postdoc | Directed evolution of pharmaceuticals | programmer/analyst, Milgram Group, Montréal e-mail: r_shu88@hotmail.com |
| Christine Guerard 1999-2000 | postdoc | Directed evolution of lipases | assistant professor, Universite Blaise Pascal - Clermont-Ferrand, France |
| Christina Löwendahl 1997-98 | postdoc | Enantioselective screening of lipases | scientist, AstraZeneca R&D Mölndal , Sweden |
| Hedda Weber 1997-98 | postdoc | Enantioselective screening of lipases in organic solvents | Lenzing R&D e-mail: h.weber@lenzing.com |
| Chan-Seong Cheong 1996-97 | postdoc | Synthesis of transition state analogs | scientist, drug synthesis laboratory, KIST, Seoul, Korea e-mail: c2496@kistmail.kist.re.kr |
| Xiaoming (Michael) Zhang 1995-98 | postdoc | Chiral materials for nonlinear optical applications | San Diego, CA |
| Ajay Gupta 1991-92 | postdoc | Increasing the enantioselectivity of lipases by substrate modification | Chairman & CEO, Osta Biopharma, Montreal, Canada |