Calderone’s research focuses on the enzymology of natural product biosynthesis.
Natural products are a rich source of valuable compounds that include antibiotics,
anticancer agents, and other therapeutics. However, it is often difficult or impossible
to modify the structures of natural products to increase their effectiveness or lower
their toxicity. By increasing our understanding of the pathways by which natural products
are generated, the ultimate goal of Calderone’s research is to allow the engineering of
modified products with desired properties. Calderone was recently awarded a Dreyfus
Foundation Faculty Start-Up Award in support of these efforts. 

BS, University of Chicago; MPhil, Cambridge University; PhD, Harvard University; Postdoc
at Harvard Medical School 

Calderone has been teaching at Macalester since 2008.

Selected Recent Publications

Link

A ketoreductase domain in the PksJ protein of the bacillaene assembly line carries out both α- and β-ketone reduction during chain growth (with Stephanie B. Bumpus, Neil L. Kelleher, Christopher T. Walsh, and Nathan A. Magarvey), PNAS (2008)
 

Link

Polyunsaturated fatty-acid-like trans-enoyl reductases utilized in polyketide biosynthesis (with Stephanie B. Bumpus, Nathan A. Magarvey, Neil L. Kelleher, and Cristopher T. Walsh), Journal of the American Chemical Society (2008)

Polyketide biosynthesis is typically directed by cis-acting catalytic domains. In the case of the Bacillus...

 

OpenURL

Isoprenoid-like alkylations in polyketide biosynthesis, Natural Product Reports (2008)
 

Presentations

Poster: Characterization of Enzymes Involved in Biosynthesis of the Hydroxamate-Containing Siderophore Triacetylfusarinine C in Aspergillus nidulans (with Emil Mellgren), Student Research Poster Session (2009)
 

Poster: Towards the Characterization of Prenylation of the Sirodesmin Precursor Phomamide in Leptosphaeria maculans. (with Christina Fitzsimmons), Student Research Poster Session (2009)
 

Cloning and Expression of Truncated Polyketide Synthase Enzymes for Structural Analysis. (with Emil Mellgren), Winchell Undergraduate Symposium (2009)
 

Expression of Protein involved in Siderophore Biosynthesis in Aspergillus nidulans. (with Alese Colehour and Christina Fitzsimmons), Winchell Undergraduate Symposium (2009)