Dexter

Annette initially began research as a freshman undergraduate in the Biochemistry Department at the University of Queensland, studying the inhibition of the nickel-containing enzyme urease by phosphoamides. This was followed, during a break in her studies, by work on a candidate malaria vaccine antigen at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research, and a stint at CSIRO Marine Research in Hobart, analysing lipids from deep-sea sediments. Annette was awarded the undergraduate Maude Walker Prize in Science in 1984 and 1985, and the Edward Taylor Prize in Chemistry in 1985. During her Honours year, she studied the interactions of myelin basic protein and myelin proteolipid protein.

Annette then moved to the Chemistry Department at UQ and spent several years determining the structures of novel metabolites from marine sponges, many of them isolated by SCUBA during field trips to Heron Island.

In 1992, Annette moved to the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign to begin her PhD. She received a University of Illinois Fellowship and later a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Predoctoral Fellowship. Research on the fungal enzyme chloroperoxidase gave some interesting insights into steric control of epoxidation and covalent inhibition of the enzyme by terminal alkenes. Annette was awarded the Anne A. Johnson Work Award for her PhD thesis.

After completing her doctorate, Annette proceeded to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for postdoctoral work with Tony Sinskey on enantioselective oxidation of indene by a Rhodococcus soil isolate. In early 2004, after a break from research to raise a family, Annette joined the Interfacial Bioengineering Group at CBE.

Annette has a son, David, who is the pride of her life, and takes up most of her time outside of lab.

Publications

Yanagimachi K. S., Stafford D. E., Dexter A. F., Sinskey A. J., Drew S., Stephanopoulos G. - Application of Radiolabeled Tracers to Biocatalytic Flux Analysis. Eur. J. Biochem. 2001, 268, 4950-4960.

Lee, H.-I.; Dexter, A. F.; Fann, Y.-C.; Lakner, F. J.; Hager, L. P.; Hoffman, B. M. - Q-Band CW and Pulsed ENDOR of the Modified Heme in Allylbenzene-Inactivated Chloroperoxidase. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1997, 119, 4059-4069

Dexter, A. F.; Lakner, F. J.; Campbell, R. A. and Hager, L. P. - Highly Enantioselective Epoxidation of 1,1-Disubstituted Alkenes Catalyzed by Chloroperoxidase. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1995, 117, 6412-6413

Dexter, A. F. and Hager, L. P. - Transient Heme N-alkylation of Chloroperoxidase by Terminal Alkenes and Alkynes. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1995, 117, 817-818

Dexter, A. F., Garson, M. J. and Hemling, M. E. - Isolation of a novel bastadin from the temperate marine sponge Ianthella sp. J. Nat. Prod. 1993, 56, 782-786