Frost Group Research

Research projects in the Frost lab delve into biocatalysis and natural product biosynthesis. One aspect of our biocatalytic efforts focuses on the creation within intact microbes of biosynthetic pathways that do not exist in nature. These recombinant microbes are then used to catalyze the synthesis of chemicals that are problematic to access using traditional chemical synthesis. Biocatalysis is also the centerpiece of new routes being elaborated to larger-volume chemicals based on integration of chemical and microbial synthesis. For these syntheses, renewable feedstocks derived from CO2 replace nonrenewable fossil fuel feedstocks, and nontoxic carbohydrate starting materials supplant use of carcinogenic benzene.

Biosynthetic research is directed towards the delineation of enzymes and chemical intermediates involved in nature's assembly of pharmaceutically important natural products. Chemical and chemoenzymatic synthesis of putative intermediates in biosynthetic pathways are central to these efforts. Molecules are also being synthesized and evaluated for their interaction with enzymes in medicinally important biosynthetic pathways. These interactions offer insights into enzyme mechanism and could potentially lead to new chemotherapeautic agents. Detailed descriptions (Biosynthetic Pathways, Green Synthesis, Natural Product Biosynthesis) of some of these research areas are provided.