Professor Alison Narayan

Alison Narayan, Ph.D.
Mary Sue Coleman Collegiate Professor in the Life Sciences; Research Professor, U-M Life Sciences Institute; Professor, Department of Chemistry, U-M College of Literature, Science, and the Arts; Director, U-M Program in Chemical Biology
Abstract

Biocatalysis and complex molecule synthesis

Natural sources, such as plants, fungi and microbes, have historically provided compounds with potent pharmaceutical properties. While it can be challenging to build complex natural products in a lab using existing chemistry methods, Nature has perfected these biosynthetic pathways. The work described leverages the power of Nature’s tools for building complex molecules to synthesize novel molecules with therapeutic potential. The reactivity and selectivity of enzymes from natural product pathways are often unparalleled in existing chemical methods. Enzymes with potential synthetic utility are used as a starting point for engineering biocatalysts with (1) broad substrate scope, (2) high catalytic efficiency, and (3) exquisite site- and stereoselectivity. These biocatalytic methods are employed to efficiently synthesize biologically active complex molecules.

Alison Narayan

Alison Narayan’s main research interest lies in using enzymes to synthesize small molecules with important biological activity or with value as synthetic building blocks. Her research program engages trainees from diverse backgrounds who have growing expertise in organic synthesis, molecular biology, chemical biology, as well as analytic and computational chemistry. 

Narayan completed her undergraduate studies in chemistry at the University of Michigan before earning a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, where she worked with Prof. Richmond Sarpong. She returned to the University of Michigan as a postdoctoral research fellow in the lab of David Sherman. 

Narayan started her research program as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry and the Life Sciences Institute at Michigan in 2015. Since this time Alison and her research group have been recognized as a part of C&ENs Talented 12, an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow, a Cottrell Scholar, Cope Scholar and as the inaugural recipient of the Life Sciences Institute Outreach award. Alison is currently the Mary Sue Coleman Collegiate Professor at the Life Sciences Institute and a Professor of Chemistry. In addition, she is the director of the Program in Chemical Biology, an interdepartmental PhD and MS program and the Associate Director of the NSF Center for Chemoenzymatic Synthesis.

Hosted by Professor Courtney Roberts