An NSERC Strategic Grant worth $851,400 over 3 years was awarded to the Zechel lab and a consortium of researchers to develop methods to remediate soils contaminated with RoundUp (glyphosate), the most widely used herbicide on Earth. Led by Trevor Charles (U. Waterloo), this proposal will combine the expertise of the Zechel lab with Geoff … More NSERC Strategic Grant for RoundUp Degradation
DLZ was recently interviewed for a feature article by the Canadian Chemistry Society magazine ACCN about his research on phosphonate degrading enzymes and how this relates to glyphosate. Better known as RoundUp, glyphosate is the most used herbicide on Earth. Follow the link to the article entitled “Mighty Enzymes”. http://www.cheminst.ca/magazine/feature-story/mighty-enzymes
DLZ has returned to Freiburg to work with the lab of Andreas Bechthold on the biosynthesis of nucleocidin by Streptomyces calvus. His sabbatical began in September and he will return to Queen’s in May 2018.
As of July 10th Kaitlyn successfully defended her MSc thesis on nucleocidin biosynthesis. Kaitlyn has now moved on to a career at an exciting biotech start-up in Peterborough called Nobelgen. Well done Kaitlyn and good luck!
David Simon, a PhD student in the Oleschuk and Zechel labs, won the Bill Davidson Graduate Student Travel Award for his presentation at the 9th International Symposium on Enabling Technologies, held earlier this May in Ottawa. Well done David!
The special issue of Chemical Reviews dedicated to the unusual enzymology of natural product biosynthesis is now online. A comprehensive review on phosphonate biochemistry by DLZ and Geoff Horsman (Wilfrid Laurier U) has a prominent place in this review, and even shares a wee corner of the cover page!
Many thanks to PhD student Ana Ramos and the Molecular and Cellular Integrative Biology section of the Queen’s Department of Biology for inviting DLZ for a seminar on March 28th. After the seminar DLZ had the privilege of sharing pizza over lunch with graduate and undergraduate students. It should be noted that DLZ loves giving … More DLZ delivers seminar to Queen’s MCIB
On March 10th DLZ was thrilled to give a seminar to his alma mater in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Toronto. His fascination with enzyme mechanisms began during his undergraduate studies at U of T. A big thank you goes to Prof. Andrew Woolley for the invitation!
It is a pleasure to welcome Becky Lo as our new PhD student. Becky hails from Laurentian University in Sudbury where she completed an MSc in Chemistry studying the metal ion dependence of the anthrax lethal factor (!). She will be looking at less lethal enzymes involved in phosphonate catabolism for her PhD.
Our comprehensive review on ‘Phosphonate Biochemistry’ has been published online in Chemical Reviews, the premier review journal for chemical sciences. Many thanks to co-author Geoff Horsman of Wilfrid Laurier University for bravely diving into this huge project!