Liberal Arts and Sciences
Bruner Lab
Led by Steven Bruner · Chemistry
What we study
The Bruner Lab studies how small‑molecule biosynthetic enzymes make bioactive chemicals, using organic chemistry, enzyme experiments, and structural biology to see how they work. They also apply synthetic‑biology tools to design new compounds that can target disease‑related proteins, such as those linked to pediatric leukemia.
What working here is like
- Wet lab
- Bacteria & microbes
- Coding required
- Projects
- 2
- Papers
- 3
Current projects
Probing the Interactions of Colibactin Analogs with Oligomeric DNA
The lab tests synthetic colibactin analogs, finds they form single‑site DNA adducts similar to natural colibactin, and plans to grow crystals to see how they bind DNA using X‑ray analysis.
From the Spring 2025 UF Undergraduate Research Symposium · abstract book, p. 456
Investigating O‑Methyltransferases in the Biosynthesis of Dolastatin for Cancer Therapy
The lab studies enzymes that add methyl groups to a cancer‑killing compound from cyanobacteria. Students clone the genes, produce the enzymes in bacteria, and use X‑ray imaging to learn how they work, aiming to improve the drug.
From the Spring 2025 UF Undergraduate Research Symposium · abstract book, p. 45
Summaries are written by AI in plain language from public symposium abstracts and may be imperfect.
Recent papers, explained
- Characterization of a Dual Function Peptide Cyclase in Graspetide Biosynthesis
2024 · ACS Chemical Biology
Studying a peptide‑cyclizing enzyme that performs two roles in making graspetide natural products.
- Alternative Linkage Chemistries in the Chemoenzymatic Synthesis of Microviridin-Based Cyclic Peptides
2024 · Organic Letters
Developing new chemical links to create cyclic peptides based on the natural product microviridin.
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- Mechanism of Catalysis and Substrate Binding of Epoxyqueuosine Reductase in the Biosynthetic Pathway to Queuosine-Modified tRNA
2024 · Biochemistry
Investigating how the enzyme epoxyqueuosine reductase works to build a modified tRNA component.
Plain-language summaries are AI-written and reviewed by us; check the paper for details.
How to reach out
Steven Bruner hasn't set up this page yet. Their UF Scholars profile lists their publications.