Dr. Adrian Keatinge-Clay Joins the Department

Dr. Adrian Keatinge-Clay majored in Chemistry and Biology at Stanford University, graduating in 1999. He received his Ph.D. in Biophysics from the University of California at San Francisco in 2004. His doctoral work in the laboratory of Dr. Robert Stroud focused on the early stages of antibiotic biosynthesis catalyzed by aromatic polyketide synthases. Adrian continued to work with Dr. Stroud as a postdoctoral fellow in collaboration with Kosan Biosciences, a biotech company pursuing novel polyketide pharmaceuticals. He studied the mechanisms by which modular polyketide synthases set chiral centers in complex polyketides such as the antibiotic erythromycin.

Adrian will join the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Texas at Austin this summer (2008). His research is targeted toward three related areas: determining the atomic resolution structures and catalytic mechanisms of polyketide synthase enzymes; employing polyketide synthase enzymes as biocatalysts; and engineering polyketide synthases to make new molecules and new medicines. Adrian also plans to make time for his three favorite sports: basketball, tennis, and chess.