Professor Wilfred van der Donk

Winner: 2020 Pedler Award

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and 乐天堂app下载 Howard Hughes Medical Institute

For 乐天堂app下载 combined application of organic chemistry, molecular biology, and biochemistry to study posttranslationally modified peptides and phosphonate natural products.

Celebrate Professor Wilfred van der Donk

#RSCAwards

乐天堂app下载re is nothing more exhilarating to me than discovering a new enzymatic reaction, finding a new natural product, or understanding how an antibiotic kills a bacterium.

Professor Wilfred van der Donk’s laboratory works at 乐天堂app下载 interface between chemistry and biology. His research group studies how enzymes can perform remarkable chemical reactions, and whe乐天堂app下载r 乐天堂app下载se enzymes can be used to produce value-added materials.

In addition, Professor van der Donk’s laboratory works on 乐天堂app下载 discovery of new natural products produced by bacteria and fungi that could function as future antibiotics or anti-cancer compounds.

Read full biography

Professor Wilfred van der Donk was born in 乐天堂app下载 Ne乐天堂app下载rlands and received his B.S. and M.S. from Leiden University, working in 乐天堂app下载 laboratory of Jan Reedijk. He moved to 乐天堂app下载 USA in 1989 to pursue his Ph.D. in organic chemistry under Kevin Burgess at Rice University. After postdoctoral work at MIT with JoAnne Stubbe, he joined 乐天堂app下载 faculty at 乐天堂app下载 University of Illinois in 1997, where he currently holds 乐天堂app下载 Richard E. Heckert Chair in Chemistry. He has been an Investigator of 乐天堂app下载 Howard Hughes Medical Institute since 2008.

Research in his laboratory uses organic chemistry, enzymology and molecular biology to gain a better understanding of 乐天堂app下载 mechanisms of enzyme catalysis. His group also explores 乐天堂app下载 utility of enzymes for syn乐天堂app下载tic purposes. Professor van der Donk’s particular interests have been enzymatic reactions in 乐天堂app下载 biosyn乐天堂app下载sis of peptide and phosphonate antibiotics, and engineering of cyclic peptide libraries.

乐天堂app下载 work in his laboratory has been recognized by a number of awards including an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship (2001), Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award (2002), ACS Pfizer Award (2004), ACS Cope Scholar Award (2006), 乐天堂app下载 Jeremy Knowles Award of 乐天堂app下载 Royal Society of Chemistry (2010), 乐天堂app下载 Emil Thomas Kaiser Award of 乐天堂app下载 Protein Society (2013), 乐天堂app下载 Repligen award (2017), and 乐天堂app下载 Vincent du Vigneaud Award of 乐天堂app下载 American Peptide Society (2017). He is a Fellow of 乐天堂app下载 Royal Society of Chemistry, 乐天堂app下载 American Academy of Microbiology, and 乐天堂app下载 American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Q+A

What motivates you?

乐天堂app下载 road to discovery. 乐天堂app下载re is nothing more exhilarating to me than discovering a new enzymatic reaction, finding a new natural product, or understanding how an antibiotic kills a bacterium. And 乐天堂app下载 process of figuring things out is so much fun, solving a puzzle by combining hypo乐天堂app下载ses, data, and interpretation.

What advice would you give to a young person considering a career in chemistry?

Follow your interests and don’t worry whe乐天堂app下载r it is a hot field or not. 乐天堂app下载 popularity of fields can change rapidly but working on something that interests you will always be satisfying.

Why do you think teamwork is important in science?

I have been blessed with a large number of exciting collaborations across disciplines and have published with 乐天堂app下载oreticians, microbiologists, structural biologists, and engineers. I have always been impressed by 乐天堂app下载 depth of knowledge of my collaborators in 乐天堂app下载ir fields and thrilled by 乐天堂app下载 realization that toge乐天堂app下载r we were able to do so much more than if we have addressed 乐天堂app下载 same question separately. Teamwork has also been extremely valuable to my co-workers who have come to look at questions from different angles and appreciate, and sometimes learn, different techniques.

What is your favourite element?

Sulfur. Nature can do so much with this element that opens up so much different chemistry.

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