We are excited that our review was just published in Nature Chemical Biology. In it we explore the diversity of enzymat strategies for installing aromatic side chain crosslinks in RiPPs. If you like interesting chemistry and new enzyme reactions, check it out. Congrats to Sanath and Michael for leading this… Continue reading…
We attended the 2025 SIMB Natural Product Discovery and Development in the Genomic Era conference. Not only was the conference great, but we were in San Diego in January where the weather was beautiful. To top it off, Keelie won 3rd place overall in the poster presentations! 9 Jan… Continue reading…
We have a few fun lab events to celebrate the holiday and end of the semester. We went to the (cold) science center winter lights then had a lab potluck!
We are excited to welcome Sara and Victoria to the lab! Sara is starting as a PhD student after completing her M.S. degree at Ball State. Victoria graduated with B.S. in Chemistry at Methodist University and has joined our Master’s Program. We are excited to have both of them join!… Continue reading…
Our lab won the inaugural departmental safety award (and pizza party)! Congrats to everyone for promoting a culture of safety. 8 Nov 2024
Congrats to Michael for passing his proposal defense! We had a lab pizza party to celebrate! 05 Nov 2024
In this project funded by the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate Launching Early-Career Academic Pathways (MPS-LEAPS) Program and managed by the Broadening Participation (CHE-BP) Program in the Division of Chemistry, Professor Chekan and his students at University of North Carolina Greensboro will study new enzyme catalysts for the crosslinking of amino acid side chains in peptides.
Out now in Chem , we collaborate with the Piel to discover a prenyltransferase+terpene cyclase fusion enzyme that modifies tryptophans residues in RiPPs to yield complex steroid-like scaffolds! Congrats to Sanath for co-leading this work! Hubrich, F., Kandy, S. K., Chepkirui, C., Padhi, C., Mordhorst, S., Moosmann, P.,… Continue reading…
Out now in ACS Catalysis, we develop a chimeric fusion N-glycosyltransferase for targeted and selective peptide modification, especially in vivo. We use it to make a new glycocin derivative (RiPP NP). Congrats to Ayoola for leading this work! Smith, A. B., and Chekan, J. R. (2024) Targeted peptide modification using… Continue reading…
We celebrated the end of the semester with a group lunch followed by bowling! 25 July 2024
