Christopher Shelby, a doctoral student in the laboratory of Dr. Brian Kuhlman, successfully defended his PhD dissertation in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics on March 9, 2026.
His dissertation, titled “Enhancing enzymatic bioconjugation efficiency via computer-based installation of a substrate recruitment domain,” focused on improving enzymatic bioconjugation through computationally guided protein design. The work highlights new strategies for increasing reaction efficiency by engineering substrate recruitment mechanisms.
Shelby’s research contributes to ongoing efforts in protein engineering and enzymatic design, with potential applications across biotechnology and molecular engineering.