Group News
Dr. Stewart named 2017 – 2020 University of Florida Term Professor
Dr. Stewart was recently chosen as a three-year Term Professor by the University of Florida. These professorships were created by UF “to recognize faculty who have established a distinguished record of research and scholarship that is expected to lead to continuing distinction in their field.”
Congratulations to Minsun Cha
Min was recently named as one of the newest group of U.F. University Scholars. The University Scholars Program serves as an exceptional capstone to the academic careers of UF students. A competition is held each spring within participating colledges and only 200 students from all disciplines are selected to participate in this program.
Congratulations to Dr. Sarah F. Beaudoin
Sarah recently began her new position as a Scientist with Integrated DNA Technologies in Coralville, IA. Her supervisor (Dr. Christopher Vakulskas) is also a former Gator from the Department of Microbiology. Sarah will be putting her skills in protein engineering and fermentation to work her new position.
Stewart group receives NSF funding
The Stewart group was recently awarded NSF funding for their work on biocatalysis from Cellular and Biochemical Engineering. 
“SusChEM: New Methodologies in Biocatalysis” (CHE-1705918, 1 July 2017 – 30 June 2020) will support research in developing new synthetic methods based on the pyridoxal phosphate-dependent enzyme serine palmitoyltransferase as well as new efforts to understand why alkene reductases OYE 1 and OYE 3 show different properties despite having essentially identical crystal structures. The latter is a collaboration between the Stewart group and Professor Adrian Roitberg’s group that will combine protein engineering, x-ray crystallography, catalytic profiling and molecular dynamics.
Stewart group receives USDA funding as part of the SPARC Team
The USDA recently selected a consortium 
of universities and companies for five years of funding by the NIFA CAP program. SPARC (Southeast Partnership for Advanced Renewables from Carinata) will establish a Brassica carinata (carinata) based resilient and sustainable advanced jet fuel and bioproducts supply chain in the Southeast US. The Stewart group will concentrate on removing objectionable by-products such as glucosinolates and anti-nutrients from the residue remaining after oil extraction (seed cake).
Organic Synthesis Using Biocatalysis, First Edition
A new book designed for organic chemists interested in learning and employing new synthetic methods based on enzymes will be released on September 15, 2015. Organic Synthesis Using Biocatalysis was co-edited by Dr. Stewart and Dr. Animesh Goswami (Bristol-Myers Squibb) and contains 12 chapters written by leading experts in each area. The book is designed to bring the non-expert up to speed in the state of the art of employing enzymes for preparative chemical synthesis.