UF Chemical Engineering
The Denard Lab
Our core mission is to develop next-generation targeted biologics and diagnostics
that alleviate the burden of disease.
How to join?
Starting Fall 2020, the Denard lab aims to hire two Ph.D. students and one Master’s student.
Interested Master’s students should contact Dr. Denard via email with a CV and a personal statement.
Prospective Ph.D. students who are interested in joining the Denard group should apply and be admitted to the Chemical Engineering graduate program at UF. Nonetheless, prospective Ph.D. students should email Dr. Denard if they have specific research-related questions.
We are happy to consider highly-motivated post-doc candidates preferably with independent funding at the moment. Feel free to email Dr. Denard with a CV and personal statement.
Motivated undergraduate students interested in biomolecular engineering research should contact Dr. Denard via email. Undergraduates interested in working during the summer should check out the UF SURF program.
“Designer” protein-modifying enzymes for biomedicine, biotechnology and synthetic biology.
“Designer” protein-modifying enzymes for biomedicine, biotechnology and synthetic biology
In one area of focus, we aim to evolve the specificity of proteases to target misfolded and aberrant proteins involved in neurodegenerative, autoimmune diseases and cancer. We hypothesize that catalytic degradation of disease-related proteins can fight diseases in ways that can be complementary to and mechanistically distinct from current therapeutic approaches.
Moreover, using engineered protein-modifying enzymes, we seek to build protein circuits that reprogram cellular behavior along rapid time scales. Modular, responsive and predictable synthetic protein circuits will augment genetic engineering by introducing novel design principles that will facilitate their integration into larger cellular networks.
In a related area of research, we aim to evolve enzymes for the site-specific conjugations to proteins, cells and biomaterials. We envision to generate highly-functionalized therapeutic agents with multipronged and synergistic modes of action.
The Denard Lab is currently recruiting Ph.D., M.S., undergraduate students and postdoctoral scholars.
If you are interested, please email Dr. Denard at cdenard[at]ufl.edu
Post-doc, University of Texas at Austin, 2019
Ph.D., Chemical Engineering,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2014
B.S., Chemical Engineering, North Carolina State University, 2007
Honors and Awards
Dow Chemical Fellow, 2012-2013
Hanratty travel award, 2012
Email: cdenard[at]ufl.edu
Office: Chemical Engineering Building, 419
Office phone: (352)-294-6370
Experienced Postdoctoral Researcher with a demonstrated history of working in the higher education industry. Strong research professional skilled in Protein and Cellular Engineering, in vitro High-throughput Screening Platforms, Chemical Engineering, Protein Expression and Purification, Yeast Surface Display, and High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), Next-Gen Sequencing
- Yajie Wang, Mark J. Bartlett, C. A. Denard, et al. “Combining Rh-catalyzed diazocoupling and enzymatic reduction to efficiently synthesize enantioenriched 2-substituted succinate derivatives” ACS Catalysis, 2017, 7 (4) pp. 2548–2552.
- C.A. Denard* et al. “Development of a one-Pot tandem reaction combining ruthenium-catalyzed alkene metathesis and enantioselective enzymatic oxidation to produce aryl epoxides.” ACS Catalysis, 2015, 5 (6), pp. 3817–3822.
- C. A. Denard*, Hengqian Ren and Huimin Zhao. “Improving and repurposing biocatalysts via directed evolution.” Current Opinion in Chemical Biology, 2015, 25, pp. 55–64.
- Z. Abil, C. A. Denard and Huimin Zhao.” Modular assembly of designer PUF proteins for specific post-transcriptional regulation of endogenous RNA.” Journal of Biological Engineering, 2014 8:7.
- H. Huang, C. A. Denard, R. Alamillo, A. Crisci, James. A. Dumesic, Susannah Scott and Huimin Zhao. “Tandem catalytic conversion of glucose to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural with an immobilized enzyme and a solid acid catalyst. ACS Catalysis, 2014, 4 (7), pp. 2165–2168.
- C.A. Denard* et al. ”Cooperative tandem catalysis using an organometallic catalyst and a metalloenzyme.” Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2014, 7, 53 (2). pp. 465-469.
- C.A. Denard*, John F. Hartwig and Huimin Zhao. “Multistep one-pot reactions combining biocatalysts and chemical catalysts for asymmetric synthesis”. ACS Catalysis, 2013, 3 (12), pp. 2856–2864.
- N. U. Nair, C. A. Denard** and H. Zhao. “Engineering of enzymes for selective catalysis.” Current Organic Chemistry, 2010, 14, pp. 1870-1882.
- M. DeSieno, C. A. Denard, and H. Zhao. “Combinatorial biosynthesis for drug discovery and development.” In Chemical Biology of Enzymes in Biotech and Pharmaceutical Applications, (J. R. McCarthy, H.C. Yang and W.K. Yeh, Eds.), John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2010
* First author
** Equal contribution
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