Aaron Leconte, Ph.D
Department
Areas of Expertise
Research Interests
Protein engineering. Biotechnology. Biomolecular evolution. DNA polymerases. Bioluminescent imaging. My group is interested in using biochemistry to understand the molecular basis of the evolution of new function in proteins. In doing so, we hope to better understand evolution and how to apply it more effectively to the creation of useful protein-based medicines and materials. Students interested in research opportunities should contact Aaron directly (using the email address above).
Education
B.A., Chemistry, Carleton College (2000-2004); Ph.D., Chemical Biology, The Scripps Research Institute (2004-2009); NIH Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard University (2009-2012).
Research and Publications
E. L. Lewis and A. M. Leconte. (in press). DNA polymerase activity assay using near-infrared fluorscent labeled DNA visualized by acrylamide gel electrophoresis. Journal of Visualized Experiments
S. L. Rosenblum, A. G. Weiden, E. L. Lewis, A. L. Ogonowsky, H. E. Chia, S. E. Barrett, M. D. Liu, and A. M. Leconte . (2017). Design and discovery of new combinations of mutant DNA polymerases and modified DNA substrates. Chembiochem 18: 816.
H.J. Schultz, A. M. Gochi, H. E. Chia, A. L. Ogonowsky, S. Chiang, N. Filipovic, A. G. Weiden, E. E. Hadley, S. E. Gabriel and A. M. Leconte . (2015). Taq DNA polymerase mutants and 2’ modified sugar recognition. Biochemistry 54: 5999.
A. M. Leconte, G. T. Hwang, S. Matsuda, P. Capek, Y. Hari, and F. E. Romesberg . (2008). Discovery, Characterization, and Optimization of an Unnatural Base Pair for Expansion of the Genetic Alphabet. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 130: 2336.
A. M. Leconte, B. C. Dickinson, D. D. Yang, I. A. Chen, B. Allen, D. R. Liu . (2013). A Population-Based Experimental Model for Protein Evolution: Effects of Mutation Rate and Selection Stringency on Evolutionary Outcomes. Biochemistry 52: 1490.