麻豆传媒

I am a Professor of Structural Biology and the Director for the newly-established Centre for Enzyme Innovation (CEI) at the University of Portsmouth. With a strong background in the discovery and engineering of enzymes for the depolymerisation of lignocellulose plant biomass, we have turned our attention to the global challenge of man-made plastic polymers for bio-based recycling and upcycling applications. My technical expertise is in protein biophysics with a focus on structural biology. I employ a range of hydrodynamic and spectroscopic methods in parallel with X-ray crystallography to reveal the detailed mechanisms of enzyme function. I am keen to embrace the development of synchrotron X-ray techniques and work closely with colleagues at the Diamond Light Source. My group works with a range of complementary techniques including nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and electron microscopy, and we are particularly excited about the new opportunities coming online with free electron lasers such as the European XFEL. We are interested in understanding enzyme function at the atomic level, and through the CEI, we work with a host of superb international collaborators from academic laboratories, institutes and industry. Locally, I work closely with Dr Andy Pickford, Prof Anastasia Callaghan and Prof Simon Cragg, co-supervising multiple PhD studentships. I have strong research collaborations with Dr Gregg Beckham at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado, Prof Ellen Neidle (University of Georgia), Prof Jen Dubois (Montana University) and Prof Henry Woodcock (University of South Florida). Recent highlights from our team include the characterisation and engineering of an enzyme, PETase, that can digest polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a common plastic found in single-use plastic bottles and clothing (Austin et al. 2018). The associated paper reached the Altmetric top 100 for 2018 and was widely covered in the media.

Education

Merck Postdoctoral Fellowship, Yale University
Ph.D., Harvard University
B.S., University of Chicago



Research Interests

Catalyst screening and reaction development
Asymmetric synthesis
Fluorinated phosphonates
Mechanism-based enzyme inhibitors
PLP enzymes
Lignan natural products



National/International Leadership

Division Director, NSF Division of Chemistry (2020)
Co-Chair, Gordon Research Conference on Biocatalysis (2018)



Awards and Honors

2016 - Board of Editors - Organic Reactions
2015 - Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
2010 - Inaugural WCCAS, Kickoff Plenary Lecturer, Beijing, China
2008 - Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Fellow
2006 - Visiting Professor, Max Planck Institute for Molecular Physiology, Dortmund, Germany
2005 - Visiting Professor, U. de Rouen, Rouen, France
1997-2001 - Alfred P. Sloan Fellow




Selected Publications

Robert A. Swyka & David B. Berkowitz “The In Situ Enzymatic Screening (ISES) Approach to Reaction Discovery and Catalyst Identification” Current Protocols in Chemical Biology, 2017, 9(4), 285-305; DOI: 
Guillaume Malik, Rob Swyka, Virendra Tiwari, Xiang Fei, Greg Applegate, and David B. Berkowitz “A thiocyanopalladation/carbocyclization transformation identified through enzymatic screening: stereocontrolled tandem C–SCN and C–C bond formation” Chem. Sci., 2017, Advance Article; DOI: 
Christopher D. McCune, Matthew L. Beio, Jill M Sturdivant, Roberto de la Salud-Bea, Brendan M. Darnell, and David B. Berkowitz “Synthesis and Deployment of an Elusive Fluorovinyl Cation Equivalent: Access to Quaternary α-(1’-Fluoro)vinyl Amino Acids as Potential PLP Enzyme Inactivators” JACS, 2017, 139, 14077-14089; DOI: 
Xiang Fei; Megan E. Zavorka, Guillaume Malik, Christopher M. Connelly, Richard G. MacDonald,* David B. Berkowitz,* “General Linker Diversification Approach to Bivalent Ligand Assembly: Generation of an Array of Ligands for the Cation Independent Mannose 6-Phosphate Receptor (CI-MPR).” Organic Letters, 2017, 19, 4267-4270; DOI: 
David L. Nelson; Gregory A. Applegate, Matthew L. Beio, Danielle L. Graham, David B. Berkowitz,* “Human Serine Racemase Structure/Activity Relationshp Studies Provide Mechanistic Insight and Point to Position-84 Base as a Hotspot for beta-Elimination Function.” J. Biol. Chem. 2017, 292, 13986-14002; DOI: 
Christopher D. McCune; Su Jing Chan; Matthew; Beio; Weijun Shen; Woo Jin Chung,; Laura Szczesniak; Chou Chai; Shu Qing Koh , Peter T.-H. Wong;* David Berkowitz* “Zipped Synthesis” by Cross-Metathesis Provides a CBS (Cystathionine β-Synthase) Inhibitor that Attenuates Cellular H2S Levels and Reduces Neuronal Infarction in a Rat Ischemic Stroke Model," ACS Central Science 2016, ASAP; DOI: ; featured in Science Daily: ; featured in Medical 麻豆传媒 Today: 
Kannan R. Karukurichi, Xiang Fei, Robert A. Swyka, Sylvain Broussy, Sangeeta Dey, Weijun Shen, Sandip K. Roy, David B. Berkowitz* “Mini-ISES Identifies Promising (Carba)fructopyranose-Based Salens for Asymmetric Catalysis: Tuning Ligand Shape via the Anomeric Effect.” Science Advances 2015, 1(6), e1500066; DOI: 
Gregory A. Applegate and David B. Berkowitz* “Exploiting Dynamic Reductive Kinetic Resolution (DYRKR) in Stereocontrolled Synthesis” Advanced Synthesis & Catalysis 2015, 357, 1619-1632, chosen as a VIP (Very Important Publication) by the editors; DOI: 
Kaushik Panigrahi, Gregory A. Applegate, Guillaume Malik, David B. Berkowitz* “Combining aClostridial Enzyme Exhibiting Unusual Active Site Plasticity with a Remarkably Facile Sigmatropic Rearrangement: Rapid Stereocontrolled Entry into Densely Functionalized Fluorinated Phosphonates for Chemical Biology. J. Am. Chem. Soc, 2015, 137, 3600-3609. DOI: ; featured as a JACS Spotlight: DOI: 
Christopher D. McCune, Matthew L. Beio, Jacob A. Friest, Sandeep Ginotra, David B. Berkowitz* “A Useful Methoxyvinyl Cation Equivalent: a-t-Butyldimethylsilyl-a-methoxyacetaldehyde” Tetrahedron Lett. 2015, 56, 3575-3579 (Special Symposium-In-Print honoring Harry H. Wasserman) DOI: 
Xiang Fei, Thomas Holmes, Julianna Diddle, Lauren Hintz, Dan Delaney, Alex Stock, Danielle Renner, Molly McDevitt, David B. Berkowitz, Juliane K. Soukup “Phosphatase-Inert Glucosamine 6-Phosphate Mimics Serve as Actuators of the glmS Riboswitch” ACS Chemical Biology, 2014, 9;2875-2882;