29th Enzyme Mechanisms Conference Scientific Program
Sunday, January 4
2:30-5:30 pm
REGISTRATION - Luna Ballroom
6:00-8:00 pm
Opening Reception - Luna Lawn
Monday, January 5
Session 1 ‒ Luna Ballroom
Enzymes and Health
Session Chair – Marcus Hartmann, Max Planck Society
8:30-8:45 am
Welcome – Andrew Gulick and Tim Wencewicz, EMC co-Chairs
8:45-9:15 am
Luiz Pedro Carvalho (UF Scripps Institute) - Discovery of a Novel Amino Acid Decarboxylase in Nature
9:15-9:45 am
Christina M. Woo (Harvard) - Post-Translational Regulation of Glutamine Synthetase through Enzymes and E3 Ligases
9:45-10:15 am
Qingan Sun (Bayer Crop Science) - Selective Inhibition of Fungal IMPDH by a Novel Macrocyclic Peptide Targeting a Non-Canonical Allosteric Site
10:15-10:45 am
Coffee Break
Session 2 ‒ Luna Ballroom
Natural Products I
Session Chair – Christal Sohl, San Diego State University
10:45-11:15 am
Kou-San Ju (The Ohio State University) - Biosynthetic Diversification of Phosphonopeptide Natural Products
11:15-11:45 am
Bradley S. Moore (Scripps Institute of Oceanography) - Enzyme Discovery from the Seashore to the Deep Ocean
11:45-12:15 pm
Louise K. Charkoudian (Haverford College) - Exploring the Inner Workings of Type II Polyketide Synthases for Expanded Access to Biosynthetic Products
12:15-12:45 pm
Trainee Flash Talks I
12:45-2:00 pm
Lunch (Provided) Luna Lawn
2:00-4:00 Poster Session, Luna Ballroom
Session 3 Luna Ballroom
Enzymology I
Session Chair – Ken Roberts, University of South Carolina - Aiken
4:00-4:30 pm
Graham R. Moran (Loyola University) - A Descriptive Analysis of Transient-state Observations for Thioredoxin Glutathione Reductase from Schistosoma mansoni
4:30-5:00 pm
Wen Zhu (Florida State University) - Dissecting the Conformational Assembly of Human Asparagine Synthetase
5:00-5:30 pm
Patrick A. Frantom (University of Alabama) - Mechanisms of Protected Persulfide Transfer in the Suf Pathway for Bacterial Fe-S Cluster Assembly
5:30 pm
Trainee Flash Talks II
7:30-9:00 pm
Posters and Social Session - Luna Lawn
Tuesday, January 6
Session 4 ‒ Luna Ballroom
Natural Products II
Session Chair – Dillon Cogan, University of Southern California
8:30-9:00 am
T. Martin Schmeing (McGill University) - Megaenzyme Mechanisms
9:00-9:30 am
Michael D. Burkart (UCSD) - High-Resolution Cryo-EM of Crosslinked NRPS and PKS Megasynthetase Assembly Lines
9:00-10:00 am
Alison Butler (UCSB) - Siderophores in Stereo: Chirality in Microbial Iron Acquisition
10:00-10:30 am
Coffee Break
Session 5 ‒ Luna Ballroom
Enzymology II
Session Chair – Zhihao Zhuang, University of Delaware
10:30-11:00 am
Audrey L. Lamb (UTSA) - How to Make Riboflavin (in At Least Nine Complicated Enzymatic Steps)
11:00 - 11:30 am
Robert P. Hausinger (Michigan State) - Biosynthesis and Utilization of Nickel-Pincer Nucleotide Cofactors
11:30-12:00 pm
Pablo Sobrado (Missouri University of Science and Technology) - Hydroxylation of Amines by Flavin-Dependent Enzymes
12:00-12:30 pm
John Richard (University at Buffalo) - Substrate-Driven Protein Conformational Changes in Catalysis by Nature’s Most Proficient Enzymes
12:30-2:00 pm
Lunch (Provided) Luna Lawn
2:00-4:00 Poster Session, Luna Ballroom
Session 6 ‒ Luna Ballroom
Biosynthesis
Session Chair – Truc Pham, Atavistik Bio
4:00-4:30 pm
Elizabeth Sattely (Stanford and HHMI) - Chemistry and Biology of Taxol Biosynthesis
4:30-5:00 pm
Joseph M. Jez (Washington University) - Molecular Controls in Plan Hormone Signaling
5:00-5:30 pm
Lona M. Alkhalaf (University of Warwick) - Structural Basis for [1,3]-Phosphate Shift in Bacterial Hormone Biosynthesis
5:30-6:00 pm
Founders' Award Talk and Award Presentation
Kristin Osika (University of Pennsylvania) - Structural Snapshots of Catalysis in a Bifunctional Terpene Cyclase
7:30-9:00 pm
Posters and Social Session - Luna Lawn
Wednesday, January 7
Session 7 ‒ Luna Ballroom
Chemical Biology
Session Chair – Brianne Dudiak, Bristol Myers Squibb
8:00-8:30 am
David J. Pagliarini (HHMI and Washington University - New enzymes in hydroxylipid catabolism
8:30-9:00 am
Benjamin F. Cravatt (The Scripps Research Institute) - Activity-Based Protein Profiling – Target and Ligand Discovery on a Global Scale
9:00-9:30 am
Chihui An (Merck & Co., Inc) - Biocatalytic Synthesis of Non-Natural Peptides
9:30-10:00 am
Dhara D. Shah (Arizona State U) - A Sulfotransferase from a Gut Microbe Acts on Diverse Phenolic Sulfate Compounds, Including Acetaminophen Sulfate
10:00-10:30 am
Coffee Break
Session 8 - Luna Ballroom
Metalloenzymology
Session Chair – Adrian Jinich, University of California, San Diego
10:30-11:00 am
Amie K. Boal (Penn State U) - The Periodic Table of Ribonucleotide Reducatases
11:00-11:30 am
Katherine S. Ryan (U of British Columbia) - Heme-dependent Enzymes in Nitrogen-Nitrogen Bond-Formation
11:30 am-12:00 pm
Catherine L. Drennan (MIT and HHMI) - The Hard Work of Making Deoxyribonucleotides
12:00-12:30 pm
Squire J. Booker (U Penn) - Structure, Mechanism, and Annotation of Cobalamin-Dependent Radical SAM
12:30-2:00 pm
Lunch (Provided) Luna Lawn
Session 9 ‒ Luna Ballroom
Protein Engineering
Session Chair - Seokhee Kim, Seoul National University
3:00-3:30 pm
Monica Neugebauer (Wisconsin) - Discovery and characterization of new families of nickel-dependent enzymes
3:30-4:00 pm
Kelly M. Zatopek (New England Biolabs) A NUDIX Jack-of-all-Trades: Structural and Functional Analysis of Archaeal Nudα
4:00-4:30 pm
Allison S. Walker (Vanderbilt U) - Artificial Intelligence for Genome Mining and Engineering Biosynthesis
4:30-5:00 pm
Yang Yang (UCSB) - Design and Development of New Radical Enzymology
Closing Announcements Tim Wencewicz and Andrew Gulick
Closing Banquet
6:00-7:00 pm
Reception - Luna Lawn
7:00 pm
Banquet - Luna Lawn
Thursday, January 8
AM Depart conference
Funding provided by the Sponsors of EMC2026 was not used for the benefit of specific individuals. The program of EMC2026 was not influenced in any way by the Sponsors. Sponsor funds did not result in any transfer of value to physicians or other attendees. Sponsors do not endorse any views presented at EMC2026.