Lou Charkoudian
She/her
Professor of Chemistry
KINSC E214A
(610) 896-2994
lcharkou [at] haverford.edu
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Publications

Education

B.S., Haverford College 

Ph.D., Duke University

NIH Postdoctoral Scholar, Stanford University 

Research & Teaching

Lou’s research and teaching interests lie at the intersection of chemistry and biology. She is enthralled with the Streptomyces bacteria with which she works and spends her time in lab collaborating with undergraduate researchers to understand how Streptomyces biosynthesize structurally complex and therapeutically relevant molecules. Lou is also passionate about integrating original research opportunities for undergraduates into the classroom, exploring how intrapersonal factors play a role in STEM education, and developing symbiotic outreach activities with her local community.  

Funding

Our team is grateful to the following funding agencies for believing in our work: National Institutes of Health (R15), National Science Foundation (CAREER, RUI, and RCN), The Camille & Henry Dreyfus Foundation and Research Corporation for Science Advancement (Cottrell Scholars Award and Cottrell College Science Award).

Recent Publications (since 2013)

  1. Li, K. K., Cho, Y. I., Tran, M. A., Widemann, C., Koweek, R. S., Hoang, N. K., Hamrick, G. S., Bowen, M. A., Kokona, B., Beld, J., Hellmich, U. A.*, Charkoudian, L, K.* Strategic engineering unlocks in vitro type II polyketide biosynthesis. 2024. In Revision.  DOI: 10.1101/2023.08.02.551649.
  2. Charkoudian, L. K., Frohlich, C., Hidreth, M., Perez, K., Rizk, S., Ross, J., Solomon, T, Takematsu, K.  Inclusivity in Introductory STEM Courses: A Guide to Improving Student (and Instructor!) Mindsets. Research Corporation for Science Advancement, 2023.
  3. McBride, C. M., Miller, E. L.*, Charkoudian, L. K.*  An updated catalog of diverse type II polyketide synthase biosynthetic gene clusters captured from large-scale nucleotide databases.” Microb. Genom., 2023, 9, 965.
  4. Romei, M., von Krusenstiern, E., Ridings, S., King, R., Fortier, J.,  McKeon, C., Nichols, K., Charkoudian, L. K., Londergan, C. H.* “Frequency Changes in Terminal Alkynes Provide Strong, Sensitive, and Solvatochromic Raman Probes of Biochemical Environments.” J. Phys. Chem. B., 2023, 127, 85.
  5. Corwin, L. A., Charkoudian, L. K., Heemstra, J. H. Confronting Failure: Approaches to Building Confidence and Resilience in Undergraduate Researchers. Council of Undergraduate Research, 2022.
  6. Hamrick, G. S., Londergan, C. H., Charkoudian, L.K.* “Heterologous Expression, Purification, and Characterization of Type II Polyketide Synthase Acyl Carrier Proteins.” Met. Mol. Biol. 2022, Vol 2489.
  7. Feeney, M. A., Newitt, J. T., Addington, E., Algora-Gallardo, L., Allan, C., Balis, B., Birke, A. S., Castaño-Espriu, L.,  Charkoudian, L. K., Devine, R., Gayrard, D., Hamilton, J., Hennrich, O., Hoskisson, P. A., Keith-Baker, M., Klein, J. G., Kruasuwan, W., Mark, D. R., Mast, Y., McHugh, R. E., McLean, T. C., Mohit, E., Munnoch, J. T., Murray, J., Noble, K., Otani, H., Parra, J., Pereira, C. F., Perry, L., Pintor-Escobar, L., Pritchard, L., Prudence, S. M. M., Russell, A. H., Schniete, J. K., Seipke, R. F., Sélem-Mojica, N., Undabarrena, A., Vind, K. van Wezel, G. P., Wilkinson, B., Worsley, S. F., Duncan, K. R., Fernández-Martínez, L. T., Hutchings, M. I. “ActinoBase: tools and protocols for researchers working on Streptomyces and other filamentous actinobacteria.” Microb. Genom. 2022, 8, 824.
  8. Greule, A., Izore, T., Machell, D., Hansen, M. H., Motygullina, A., Schoppet M., De Voss, J. J. Charkoudian, L. K., Schittenhelm, R. B., Harmer, J. R., Cryle, M. J. “The Cytochrome P450 OxyA from the Kistamicin Biosynthesis Cyclisation Cascade is Highly Sensitive to Oxidative Damage.” Front. Chem. 2022, 10, 868240. 
  9. Cho, Y. I., Armstrong, C. L., Sulpizio, A., Acheampong, K. K., Banks, K. N., Bardhan, O., Churchill, S., Connolly-Sporing, A. E.,Crawford, C. E. W., Cruz Parrilla, P. L., Curtis, S., De La Ossa, L. M., Epstein, S. C., Farrehi, C. J., Hamrick, G. S., Hillegas, W. J., Kang, A., Laxton, O. C., Ling, J., Matsumura, S. M., Merino, V. M., Mukhtar, S. H., Shah, N. J., Londergan, C. H., Daly, C. A., Kokona, B., Charkoudian, L. K.* “Engineered chimeras unveil swappable modular features of fatty acid and polyketide synthase acyl carrier proteins. Biochemistry, 2022, 61, 217.  
  10. Henry, M. A., Heemstra, J. H., Charkoudian, L. K., Corwin, L. A. “Coping Behavior versus Coping Style: Describing a Measure of Coping in Undergraduate STEM Contexts.” Int. J. STEM. Ed., 2022, 9, 17.
  11. Hamrick, G. S., Londergan, C. H., Charkoudian, L.K.* “Heterologous expression, purification, and characterization of type II polyketide acyl carrier proteins.” Met. Mol. Biol. 2022, vol 2489.
  12. Henry, M. A., Shorter, S., Charkoudian, L. K., Heemstra, J. H., Le, B., Corwin, L. A.* “Quantifying fear of failure in STEM: Modifying and evaluating the performance failure appraisal inventory (PFAI) for use with STEM undergraduates.” Int. J. STEM. Ed., 2021,8, 43.
  13. Sulpizio, A., Crawford, C.E.W., Koweek, R.S., Charkoudian, L.K.* "Probing the structure and function of acyl carrier proteins to unlock the strategic redesign of type II polyketide biosynthetic pathways. J. Biol. Chem., 2021, 296, 100328.
  14. Klein, J. G., Wu, Y., Kokona, B., Charkoudian, L.K.* "Widening the Bottleneck: Heterologous expression, purification, and characterization of Ktedonobacter racimifer minimal type II polyketide synthase in Escherichia coli. Bioorganic. Med. Chem., 2020, 28, 115686.
  15. Kautsar, S., Blin, K., Shaw, S., Navarro, J., Terlouw, B., van der Hooft, J., van Santen, J., Tracanna, V., Suarez, H., Pascal, V., Salem, N., Alanjary, M., Robinson, S., Lund, G., Epstein, S.C., Sisto, A.C., Charkoudian, L.K., Collemare, J., Lininton, R., Weber, T., Medema, M.H. "MiBIG 2.0: A repository for biosynthetic gene clusters of known function. Nuc. Acids Res., 2020, 48.
  16. Acheampong, K.K., Kokona, B., Braun, G.A., Jacobsen, D.R., Johnson, K.A., Charkoudian, L.K.* "Colorimetric assay reports on acyl carrier protein interactions."  Sci. Reports, 2019, 9, 14489.
  17. Epstein, S. C., Winesett, E. S., Huff, A., Londergan, C. H.,* Charkoudian, L. K.* "Tracking carrier protein motions using Raman spectroscopy." Nature Comm., 2019,10, 2227.
  18. Henry, M., Shorter, S., Charkoudian, L. K., Heemstra, J. M., Corwin, L, A.* "FAIL is not a four-letter word: A theorhetical framework for exploring student approaches to academic challenge and response to failure." CBE Life Sci. Ed. 2019, 18, ar1-rm1. 
  19. Gruele, A., Charkoudian, L. K., Cryle, M. J.* "Studying trans-acting enzymes that target carrier protein-bound amino acids during non-ribosomal peptide synthesis." Methods in Enzymology, 2019, 617, 114.
  20. Lopes, L. E.,Waldis, S. J., Terrell, S. M.,Lindgren, K. A.*, Charkoudian, L. K.* “Vibrant symbiosis: Achieving reciprocal science outreach through biological art.” PLoS Biology, 2018, 16, e300006.
  21. Rivas, M. A.,Courouble, V. C., Baker, M. C., Cookmeyer, D. L., Fiore, K. E., Frost, A. J., Godbe, K. N., Jordan, M. R., Krasnow, E. N., Mollo, A., Nawal, S., Ridings, S. T., Keisuke, S., Shroff, K. D., Studnitzer, B., Thiele, G. A. R., Sisto, A. C., Huff, A. R., Fairman, R., Beld, J., Kokona, B.*, Charkoudian, L. K.*“The Effect of Divalent Cations on the Thermostability of Type II Polyketide Synthase Acyl Carrier Proteins.” AIChE Journal, 2018, 64, 4308-4318.
  22. Epstein, S. C.,Charkoudian, L. K.*, Medema, M. H.* “A Standardized Workflow for Submitting Data to the Minimum Information about a Biosynthetic Gene Cluster (MIBiG) Repository: Prospects for Research-Based Educational Experiences.” Stand. Genomic Sci., 2018, 13, 16.
  23. Haas, K. L.,* Heemstra, J. M., Medema, M. H., Charkoudian, L. K.*“Collaborating with Undergraduates to Contribute to Biochemistry Community Resources.” Biochemistry,2018, 57, 383-389.
  24. Cookmeyer, D. L., Winesett, S. E., Kokona, B., Huff, A. R., Aliev, S., Bloch, N. B., Bulos, J. A., Evans, I. L., Farge, C. R., Godbe, K. N., Khromava, M., Konstantinovsky, D. M., Lafrance, A., Lamacki, A. J., Parry, R. C., Quinn, J. M., Thurston, A. M., Tsai, K. J. S., Mollo, A.,Cryle, M. J., Fairman, R.*, Charkoudian, L. K.* “ Uncovering Protein-Protein Interactions through a Team-based Undergraduate Biochemistry Course.” PLoS Biology, 2017, 15: e2003145.
  25. Mollo, A.,von Krusenstiern, A. N., Bulos, J. A., Ulrich, V., Akerfeldt, K., Cryle, M. J., Charkoudian, L. K.* “P450 Monooxygenase ComJ Catalyses Side Chain Phenolic Cross-linking During Complestatin Biosynthesis.” RSC Advances, 2017, 7, 35376-35384.
  26. Thiele, G. A. R.,Friedman, C. P., Tsai, K. J. S., Beld, J., Londergan, C. H.*, Charkoudian, L. K.*“Acyl Carrier Protein Cyanylation Delivers a Ketoacyl Synthase-Carrier Protein Crosslink”.  Biochemistry, 2017, 56, 2533 – 2536.
  27. Finzel, K.*, Beld, J., Burkart, M., Charkoudian, L. K.  “Utilizing Mechanistic Crosslinking Technology to Study Protein-Protein Interactions: An Experiment Designed for an Undergraduate Chemistry Lab.” J. Chem. Ed.2017, 94, 375-379.
  28. Kittiä, T., Mollo, A.,Charkoudian, L. K.*,Cryle, M. J.* “Have Substrate, will Travel: New Structural Data Reveals the Motion of Carrier Proteins in Non-Ribosomal Peptide Synthesis.”  Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.  2016,55, 9834 – 9840.
  29. Charkoudian, L. K.,Sampson, N. S., Kumar, K., Kritzer, J.* “Designing Convergent Chemistry Curricula.”  Nat. Chem. Biol., 2016, 12, 382 – 386.
  30. Fuga Li, Y., Tsai, K., Harvey, C., Ary, B., Berlew, E., Boehman, B., Findley, D., Friant, A., Gardner, C., Gould, M.,Ha, J.H.,Lilley, B., McKinstry, E., Nawal, S., Parry, R., Rothchild, K., Silbert, S., Tentilucci, M., Thurston, A., Wai, R., Yoon, Y., Aiyar, R., Medema, M. H., Hillenmeyer, M. E.,* and Charkoudian, L. K.* “Comprehensive Curation and Analysis of Fungal Biosynthetic Gene Clusters of Published Natural Products.” Fungal Genet. & Biol., 2016.  89, 18-28.
  31. Kokona, B., Winesett, E. S., von Krusenstiern, A. N., Cryle, M. J., Fairman, R.* Charkoudian, L. K.*“Probing the Selectivity of Beta-hydroxylation Reactions in Non-ribosomal Peptide Synthesis using Analytical Ultracentrifugation.” Anal. Biochem.  2016, 495, 42-51.
  32. Hillenmeyer, M. H.*, Borisova, G. V., Berlew, E. E., Charkoudian, L. K.* “Evolution of Chemical Diversity by Coordinated Gene Swaps in Type II Polyketide Gene Clusters.” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 2015, 112, 13952 – 13957.
  33. Morlon, H., O’Connor, T., Bryant, J. A., Charkoudian, L. K., Docherty, K. M., Jones, E., Kembel, S., Green, J. L., Bohannan, B. J. M.   “The Biogeography of Putative Microbial Antibiotic Production.” PLoS One.  2015, 23, e0130659.
  34. Johnson, M. N. R., Londergan, C. H.*, Charkoudian, L. K.*“Probing the Phosphopantetheine Arm Conformations of Acyl Carrier Proteins using Vibrational Spectroscopy.”  J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014, 136, 11240-11243.  (Article highlighted in C&EN News).

Want to learn more?

For more information about my teaching and research interests, please see my lab webpage!