College of Pharmacy
Xie Lab (Evolutionary Catalysis)
Led by Wenjun Xie · Medicinal Chemistry
What we study
The lab uses AI, computer models, and experiments to study how enzyme sequences affect their function, aiming to improve enzymes that have evolved over billions of years. They combine computational and wet-lab work.
What working here is like
- Wet lab
- Computational
- Cells in a dish
- Coding required
- Projects
- 2
- Papers
- 5
Current projects
Decoding Enzyme Sequence-Activity Relationships via Generative AI for Rational Enzyme Design
Using AI to predict how mutations affect enzyme function and improve them.
Evaluating Generative Models for Bioluminescent Enzyme Engineering
The lab tests computer models that predict useful mutations for the firefly luciferase enzyme. Students generate 25 mutations, create mutant plasmids, express the proteins, and measure activity, stability, and light color with a plate reader.
From the Spring 2025 UF Undergraduate Research Symposium · abstract book, p. 275
Summaries are written by AI in plain language from public symposium abstracts and may be imperfect.
Recent papers, explained
- Understanding cell wall enzyme function: from classical approaches to new biotechnology
2026 · Journal of Experimental Botany
Reviews methods to study plant cell wall enzymes, which are key for plant biology and biotechnology.
- Evaluating Mechanical-Embedding ML/MM for Predicting Mutation Effects in Chorismate Mutase Catalysis
2026 · Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation
Benchmarks a machine learning method to predict how mutations affect enzyme catalysis in chorismate mutase.
Show 3 more papersShow fewer
- KRstereo: Predicting β-Hydroxy Stereochemistry in Polyketides Using Protein Language Models
2026 · Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling
Predicts stereochemistry of β-hydroxyl groups in polyketides using protein sequence data.
- Artificial intelligence for predicting mutation effects on enzyme kinetics
2026 · Current Opinion in Structural Biology
- Bacterial Cytochrome P450 for Oxidative Halogenated Biaryl Coupling
2025 · ACS Catalysis
Identifies a marine enzyme that catalyzes biaryl bond formation, offering a greener alternative to synthetic methods.
Plain-language summaries are AI-written and reviewed by us; check the paper for details.
How to reach out
Wenjun Xie hasn't set up this page yet. Their UF Scholars profile lists their publications.