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.

• Protein1. Preparation of hydroxycinnamoyl-CoA thioesters using recombinant 4-coumarate:coenzyme A ligase (4CL) for characterization of BAHD acyltransferasesMichael Sullivan2. Near-real time determination of BAHD acyl-coA transferase reaction ratesMichael Sullivan3. Bioinformatic tools for protein structure prediction and for molecular docking applied to enzyme active site analysisMichael Sullivan & Amanda Fanelli4. Computational and biochemical methods to measure the activity of carboxysomes and protein organelles in vivoJeffrey Cameron5. Dirigent Proteins Family Function and StructureNorman LewisMetabolite6. Three-in-One Method for High-throughput plant multi-omicsSixue Chen7. Analysis of isoprenyl-phosphates by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometryPeter Doermann8. Lignin/Lignan Biosynthesis Structure/FunctionNorman Lewis9. Comparsion of TLC, HPLC, and direct infusion mass spectrometry methods for identification and quantification of diacylglycerol molecular speciesPhil Bates10. Plant sphingolipid analysisJennifer MarkamEnvironment11. RNA-seq analysis of alternative pre-mRNA splicing mediated by photoreceptors in Physcomitrium patensShih-Long Tu12. Monitoring lipid-protein interactions in planta using Forster resonance energy transferSam Wang13. Acetylene reduction assay for nitrogenase activity under salinity stressSenthil Subramanian and Liping Gu14. Assessing simultaneious reversible cysteine oxidation and global abundance in plant tissuesLeslie Hicks15. High-throughput phenotyping and the use of computer vision to unravel novel phenotypes associated with plant nutritionDavid Mendoza-Cozatl16. Using Hyper as a Molecular Probe to visualize hydrogen peroxide in living cellsLuis Cardenas17. A new probe DC_-Rho1 for visualizing protein sulfenylation in living plant cellsLuis Cardenas

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.

• Protein1. Preparation of hydroxycinnamoyl-CoA thioesters using recombinant 4-coumarate:coenzyme A ligase (4CL) for characterization of BAHD acyltransferasesMichael Sullivan2. Near-real time determination of BAHD acyl-coA transferase reaction ratesMichael Sullivan3. Bioinformatic tools for protein structure prediction and for molecular docking applied to enzyme active site analysisMichael Sullivan & Amanda Fanelli4. Computational and biochemical methods to measure the activity of carboxysomes and protein organelles in vivoJeffrey Cameron5. Dirigent Proteins Family Function and StructureNorman LewisMetabolite6. Three-in-One Method for High-throughput plant multi-omicsSixue Chen7. Analysis of isoprenyl-phosphates by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometryPeter Doermann8. Lignin/Lignan Biosynthesis Structure/FunctionNorman Lewis9. Comparsion of TLC, HPLC, and direct infusion mass spectrometry methods for identification and quantification of diacylglycerol molecular speciesPhil Bates10. Plant sphingolipid analysisJennifer MarkamEnvironment11. RNA-seq analysis of alternative pre-mRNA splicing mediated by photoreceptors in Physcomitrium patensShih-Long Tu12. Monitoring lipid-protein interactions in planta using Forster resonance energy transferSam Wang13. Acetylene reduction assay for nitrogenase activity under salinity stressSenthil Subramanian and Liping Gu14. Assessing simultaneious reversible cysteine oxidation and global abundance in plant tissuesLeslie Hicks15. High-throughput phenotyping and the use of computer vision to unravel novel phenotypes associated with plant nutritionDavid Mendoza-Cozatl16. Using Hyper as a Molecular Probe to visualize hydrogen peroxide in living cellsLuis Cardenas17. A new probe DC_-Rho1 for visualizing protein sulfenylation in living plant cellsLuis Cardenas