Title: Biosynthetic assembly-lines for polyketide drugs

Presenter: Prof. Peter Francis Leadlay

University: Herchel Smith Professor of Biochemistry, Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge

Time: 16:00-17:00, 8 April, 2011

Venue: A102, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Introduction: Dr. Leadlay is a Fellow of the Royal Society of London, and the Royal Society of Chemistry. Dr. Leadlay got his Ph. D. degree in University of Oxford (Natural Sciences, Chemistry), and has been a university professor of molecular enzymology in University of Cambridge, since 1999.

His current projects include: (1) detailed mechanistic analysis of ketosynthase, ketoreductase, acyltransferase and dehydratase enzymes from PKSs, their protein engineering and directed evolution; (2) design and assembly of novel PKSs in order to produce rare anticancer polyketides of marine origin; and (3) detailed functional analysis of a large number of novel PKS clusters to deepen our understanding of the potential of these systems for synthetic biology. As an example, his group is collaborating with the group of Stewart Cole (Institut Pasteur, Paris) to analyse the remarkable polyketide synthases that produce mycolactone, a highly toxic polyketide implicated in the emerging disease known as Buruli ulcer, which may lead to more effective therapies. They are also interested in novel ways of identifying the intracellular protein targets of such polyketide drugs and toxins.