Prof. Jez received his B.S. in biochemistry from Penn State University (1992), a Ph.D. in biochemistry & molecular biophysics from the University of Pennsylvania (1998), and was an NIH-NRSA postdoctoral fellow at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies (1998-2001). After working as a research scientist at Kosan Biosciences (2001-2002), he started his research group at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and moved to the Department of Biology at Washington University in 2008. He has authored more than 160 papers and received a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (2005), the Phytochemical Society of North America's Arthur Neish Young Investigator Award (2007), and a Fulbright Senior Specialist Award (2012) and was named as Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor in 2014. Research in the Jez lab seeks to understand how environmental changes re-model biochemical pathways in plants at the molecular, cellular, and organism levels with the aim of engineering these systems to address agricultural and environmental problems. Current work in the lab employs a combination of structural biology, protein chemistry, and plant biology. He also launched the Biotech Explorers Program, which aims to introduce undergraduates to how teams in science can tackle real world problems using cross-disciplinary approaches.

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• 1. Structure, function, and engineering of plant polyketide synthases Ikuro Abe2. A sensitive LC-MS/MS assay for enzymatic characterization of methylthioalkylmalate　synthase involved in glucosinolate side-chain elongationN Bisht3. Assaying formate-tetrahydrofolate ligase with monoglutamylated and polyglutamylated substrates using a fluorescence-HPLC based assay Sanja Roje4. An Approach to Nearest Neighbor Analysis of Pigmented Protein Complexes by Using Chemical Crosslinking in Combination with Mass Spectrometry Haijun Liu5. Biochemical characterization of plant aromatic aminotransferases Hiroshi Maeda6. Functional Analysis of Phosphoethanolamine N-methyltransferase (PMT) in Plants and Parasites Soon Goo Lee7. A structure-guided computational screening approach for predicting plant enzyme-metabolite interactions Cynthia Holland8. Plant metacaspase: an example of microcrystal structure determination and analysis Qun Liu9. Biocatalytic system for comparative assessment of functional association of cytochrome P450 monooxygenases with their redox partners Chang-Jun Liu10. Dirigent Protein Family Function and Structure Norman G. Lewis11. Lignin/Lignan Biosynthesis Structure/Function Norman G. Lewis12. Discovery and characterization of BAHD acylsugar acyltransferases Robert L. Last13. Near-real time determination of BAHD acyl-coenzyme A transferase reaction rates and kinetic parameters using Ellman's reagent Michael Sullivan14. Quantification of N-terminal protein acetyltransferase activity in vitro and in planta Markus Wirtz 15. Computational and biochemical methods to measure the activity of carboxysomes and protein organelles in vivoJeffrey Cameron16. Analysis of Plant Alkaloid-Protein Interactions Using Differential Scanning Fluorimetry and Isothermal Titration Calorimetry Peter Facchini17. A metabolomics strategy for plant specialized metabolites using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry Kazuki Saito and Tetsuya Mori18. Isoprene measurements to assess the methylerythritol pathway Thomas D. Sharkey19. Analysis of isoprenoid alcohol phosphates by liquid chromatorgraphy-mass spectrometry Peter Dörmann and Katharina Gutbrod20. Using targeted metabolomics to elucidate the indole auxin network in plants Jerry D. Cohen and Adrian D. Hegeman21. Metabolite fingerprinting: A powerful metabolomics approach for marker identification and functional gene annotation Ivo Feussner22. Ex vivo metabolomics, an hypothesis-free approach to identify native substrate(s) of orphan enzymes Kirstin Feussner23. Using stable isotopes and LC-MS for precursor of origin determination in plants Clint Chapple 24. Measurement of flux through sulfate assimilation using [35S]sulfate Stanislav Kopriva25. Assessment of the activity of sulfate uptake and assimilation in plants Rüdiger Hell26. Comparison of TLC, HPLC, and direct infusion mass spectrometry methods for the identification and quantification of diacylglycerol molecular species Philip Bates27. Plant sphingolipid analysis Jennifer E. Markham28. Strategies to study the metabolic origins of plant specialized metabolites: the 1,4-naphthoquinones in Lithospermum erythrorhizon Joshua R. Widhalm29. Controlled environments for highly reproducible cannabis ‘omics’ studies Bernd Markus Lange 30. Multi-platform approaches for the comprehensive analysis of aroma volatiles in cannabis Bernd Markus Lange 31. Systems and strategies for plant protein expression Thomas D. Niehaus 32. Programmable Chemical Actuator Control of Soluble and Membrane-Bound Enzymatic Catalysis Katrina Cornish33. CRISPR-Cas mediated genome engineering of cyanobacteria Himadri B. Pakrasi 34. Plant Seed Proteome Analysis Hari B. Krishnan35. Proteomics and phosphoproteomics of C3 to CAM transition in the common ice plant Sixue Chen36. Identification of MPK4 interactome using TurboID proteomics Sixue Chen37. A Three-in-One Method for High Throughput Plant Multiomics Sixue Chen 38. Assessing simultaneous reversible cysteine oxidation and global abundance in plant tissues Leslie M. Hicks39. Analysis of plant flooding response Simon Gilroy40. Imaging systemic calcium response and its molecular dissection using virus-induced gene silencing Simon Gilroy41. Studying the dynamics of transcriptional complex formation as a function of temperature using small angle x-ray scattering and in vitro assays Chloe Zubieta42. Isolation of novel chemical components and their target plant proteins in metal stress conditions Ryoung Shin43. Inhibition of insect Na+/K+　ATPases by plant-derived cardiac glycosides Georg Petschenka Jander 44. High-throughput phenotyping and the use of computer vision to unravel novel phenotypes associated with plant nutrition David Mendoza-Cozatl45. Detection of protein persulfidation in plants by the dimedone switch method Luis C. Romero and Cecilia Gotor46. Using Hyper as a Molecular Probe to Visualize Hydrogen Peroxide in Living Plant Cells: An Updated Method Luis Cárdenas47. Genetically encoded sensors for monitoring the spatiotemporal dynamics of glucose and sucrose Wolf B. Frommer and Nora Zoellner48. Acetylene Reduction Assay for Nitrogenase Activity Senthil Subramanian49. Monitoring lipid-protein interactions　in planta　using　Förster resonance energy transfer Xuemin (Sam) Wang50. Modification of G-protein biochemistry and its effect on plant/environment interaction. Sona Pandey51. RNA-seq analysis of alternative pre-mRNA splicing mediated by photoreceptors in　Physcomitrium patens Shih-Long Tu

Prof. Jez received his B.S. in biochemistry from Penn State University (1992), a Ph.D. in biochemistry & molecular biophysics from the University of Pennsylvania (1998), and was an NIH-NRSA postdoctoral fellow at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies (1998-2001). After working as a research scientist at Kosan Biosciences (2001-2002), he started his research group at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and moved to the Department of Biology at Washington University in 2008. He has authored more than 160 papers and received a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (2005), the Phytochemical Society of North America's Arthur Neish Young Investigator Award (2007), and a Fulbright Senior Specialist Award (2012) and was named as Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor in 2014. Research in the Jez lab seeks to understand how environmental changes re-model biochemical pathways in plants at the molecular, cellular, and organism levels with the aim of engineering these systems to address agricultural and environmental problems. Current work in the lab employs a combination of structural biology, protein chemistry, and plant biology. He also launched the Biotech Explorers Program, which aims to introduce undergraduates to how teams in science can tackle real world problems using cross-disciplinary approaches.

Select Guide Rating

• 1. Structure, function, and engineering of plant polyketide synthases Ikuro Abe2. A sensitive LC-MS/MS assay for enzymatic characterization of methylthioalkylmalate　synthase involved in glucosinolate side-chain elongationN Bisht3. Assaying formate-tetrahydrofolate ligase with monoglutamylated and polyglutamylated substrates using a fluorescence-HPLC based assay Sanja Roje4. An Approach to Nearest Neighbor Analysis of Pigmented Protein Complexes by Using Chemical Crosslinking in Combination with Mass Spectrometry Haijun Liu5. Biochemical characterization of plant aromatic aminotransferases Hiroshi Maeda6. Functional Analysis of Phosphoethanolamine N-methyltransferase (PMT) in Plants and Parasites Soon Goo Lee7. A structure-guided computational screening approach for predicting plant enzyme-metabolite interactions Cynthia Holland8. Plant metacaspase: an example of microcrystal structure determination and analysis Qun Liu9. Biocatalytic system for comparative assessment of functional association of cytochrome P450 monooxygenases with their redox partners Chang-Jun Liu10. Dirigent Protein Family Function and Structure Norman G. Lewis11. Lignin/Lignan Biosynthesis Structure/Function Norman G. Lewis12. Discovery and characterization of BAHD acylsugar acyltransferases Robert L. Last13. Near-real time determination of BAHD acyl-coenzyme A transferase reaction rates and kinetic parameters using Ellman's reagent Michael Sullivan14. Quantification of N-terminal protein acetyltransferase activity in vitro and in planta Markus Wirtz 15. Computational and biochemical methods to measure the activity of carboxysomes and protein organelles in vivoJeffrey Cameron16. Analysis of Plant Alkaloid-Protein Interactions Using Differential Scanning Fluorimetry and Isothermal Titration Calorimetry Peter Facchini17. A metabolomics strategy for plant specialized metabolites using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry Kazuki Saito and Tetsuya Mori18. Isoprene measurements to assess the methylerythritol pathway Thomas D. Sharkey19. Analysis of isoprenoid alcohol phosphates by liquid chromatorgraphy-mass spectrometry Peter Dörmann and Katharina Gutbrod20. Using targeted metabolomics to elucidate the indole auxin network in plants Jerry D. Cohen and Adrian D. Hegeman21. Metabolite fingerprinting: A powerful metabolomics approach for marker identification and functional gene annotation Ivo Feussner22. Ex vivo metabolomics, an hypothesis-free approach to identify native substrate(s) of orphan enzymes Kirstin Feussner23. Using stable isotopes and LC-MS for precursor of origin determination in plants Clint Chapple 24. Measurement of flux through sulfate assimilation using [35S]sulfate Stanislav Kopriva25. Assessment of the activity of sulfate uptake and assimilation in plants Rüdiger Hell26. Comparison of TLC, HPLC, and direct infusion mass spectrometry methods for the identification and quantification of diacylglycerol molecular species Philip Bates27. Plant sphingolipid analysis Jennifer E. Markham28. Strategies to study the metabolic origins of plant specialized metabolites: the 1,4-naphthoquinones in Lithospermum erythrorhizon Joshua R. Widhalm29. Controlled environments for highly reproducible cannabis ‘omics’ studies Bernd Markus Lange 30. Multi-platform approaches for the comprehensive analysis of aroma volatiles in cannabis Bernd Markus Lange 31. Systems and strategies for plant protein expression Thomas D. Niehaus 32. Programmable Chemical Actuator Control of Soluble and Membrane-Bound Enzymatic Catalysis Katrina Cornish33. CRISPR-Cas mediated genome engineering of cyanobacteria Himadri B. Pakrasi 34. Plant Seed Proteome Analysis Hari B. Krishnan35. Proteomics and phosphoproteomics of C3 to CAM transition in the common ice plant Sixue Chen36. Identification of MPK4 interactome using TurboID proteomics Sixue Chen37. A Three-in-One Method for High Throughput Plant Multiomics Sixue Chen 38. Assessing simultaneous reversible cysteine oxidation and global abundance in plant tissues Leslie M. Hicks39. Analysis of plant flooding response Simon Gilroy40. Imaging systemic calcium response and its molecular dissection using virus-induced gene silencing Simon Gilroy41. Studying the dynamics of transcriptional complex formation as a function of temperature using small angle x-ray scattering and in vitro assays Chloe Zubieta42. Isolation of novel chemical components and their target plant proteins in metal stress conditions Ryoung Shin43. Inhibition of insect Na+/K+　ATPases by plant-derived cardiac glycosides Georg Petschenka Jander 44. High-throughput phenotyping and the use of computer vision to unravel novel phenotypes associated with plant nutrition David Mendoza-Cozatl45. Detection of protein persulfidation in plants by the dimedone switch method Luis C. Romero and Cecilia Gotor46. Using Hyper as a Molecular Probe to Visualize Hydrogen Peroxide in Living Plant Cells: An Updated Method Luis Cárdenas47. Genetically encoded sensors for monitoring the spatiotemporal dynamics of glucose and sucrose Wolf B. Frommer and Nora Zoellner48. Acetylene Reduction Assay for Nitrogenase Activity Senthil Subramanian49. Monitoring lipid-protein interactions　in planta　using　Förster resonance energy transfer Xuemin (Sam) Wang50. Modification of G-protein biochemistry and its effect on plant/environment interaction. Sona Pandey51. RNA-seq analysis of alternative pre-mRNA splicing mediated by photoreceptors in　Physcomitrium patens Shih-Long Tu