Enzyme Microfluidics

After completing studies for the A.B., A.M., and Ph.D. degrees in chemistry at Harvard University, David W. Christianson joined the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, where he is currently the Roy and Diana Vagelos Professor in Chemistry and Chemical Biology. At Penn, Christianson’s research focuses on the structural and chemical biology of the zinc-dependent histone deacetylases as well as enzymes of terpene biosynthesis. His research accomplishments have been recognized by several awards, including the Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry and the Repligen Award in Chemistry of Biological Processes from the American Chemical Society, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Elizabeth S. and Richard M. Cashin Fellowship from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. Christianson is also a dedicated classroom teacher, and his accomplishments in this regard have been recognized by the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching at Penn and a Rhodes Trust Inspirational Educator Award from Oxford University. Christianson has also held visiting professorships in the Department of Biochemistry at Cambridge University and the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University. Christianson has served with Prof. Anna Pyle as Co-Editor-in-Chief of Methods in Enzymology since 2015.

Dr. Karen N. Allen works at the Department of Chemistry of the Boston University, the Metcalf Center for Science and Engineering

Craig Markin is a Fellow jointly appointed in the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology and the Division of Molecular and Cellular Function in the Faculty of Biology, Medicine, and Health at The University of Manchester. He received his PhD in 2013 from the University of Alberta, where he worked with Prof Leo Spyracopoulos studying the synthesis and recognition of K63-linked polyubiquitin chains in the DNA damage response. This was followed by postdoctoral work at Stanford University, in the labs of Prof Polly Fordyce and Prof Dan Herschlag, which spurred his interest in high-throughput enzymology and microfluidic technologies. He started his independent group in 2023 with a focus on developing and applying high-throughput technologies to map and better understand the sequence-structure-function relationships governing enzyme function and regulation.

Richard Obexer is a BBSRC Discovery Fellow at the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology and the Department of Chemistry at The University of Manchester. He completed his PhD in 2016 in Chemistry at ETH Zürich under Prof Donald Hilvert where he focused on directed evolution of computationally designed enzymes using droplet-based microfluidics. He subsequently undertook postdoctoral research in the laboratories of Prof. Hiroaki Suga, Prof. Dek Woolfson, and Dr. Sarah Lovelock, focusing on mRNA display for the discovery of macrocyclic peptide binders, protein design for liquid–liquid phase separation, and biocatalytic approaches to the production of therapeutic oligonucleotides. He established his independent research group in 2023. His work combines de novo protein design with ultra-high-throughput directed evolution to uncover sequence–structure–function relationships that govern enzyme catalysis, enabling the development of efficient and programmable biocatalysts.