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Jason Boock, Ph.D.

Education

• Ph.D. - Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University, 2015
• M.S.E. - Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, 2008
• B.S. – Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, 2007

Research Interests

• Metabolic Engineering
• Protein Engineering
• Applied Microbiology
• Synthetic Biology
• Bioprocess Engineering

Research Bio

Dr. Jason Boock graduated from the Johns Hopkins University in 2007 with a B.S. degree in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. He completed a M.S.E. degree in 2008 with a research focus of understanding the molecular mechanism of an artificially created allosteric enzyme. During his time as an undergraduate he received several research awards and was elected to Tau Beta Pi.

He completed his graduate studies at Cornell University earning a Ph.D. in 2015 in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. His research interests included enzyme engineering, biofuels, bacterial quality control, protein secretion and post-translational modification.

While at Cornell, he was awarded an NSF GK12 fellowship to share his research with local high school ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs, work with local educators to develop classroom activities based on renewable energy and travel to India to discuss research in sustainability.

He received the Austin Hooey award in 2014 as the best Cornell Chemical Engineering graduate ºÚÁÏÉçÇø. After finishing his Ph.D., he pursued a postdoctoral position at MIT working on developing a biochemical production system in organisms that grow under high pressures of carbon dioxide and optimizing bioproduction through enzyme discovery.

Dr. Boock joined the faculty at Miami in the fall of 2018. His research interests include sustainable biochemical production in a variety of microbial hosts, application of protein engineering towards industrial processes, and optimization of bioproduction using synthetic biology.

He is also engaged in STEM outreach for high school ºÚÁÏÉçÇøs and teachers. He is currently a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

Research Projects

• Developing genetic tools for diverse microbes
• Enzyme discovery and characterization
• Bioenergy and bioremediation applications

Experience

• Assistant Professor – ºÚÁÏÉçÇø – 2018 – present
• Postdoctoral Research Associate – Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology – 2014 – 2018

Awards

• Austin Hooey Award, Cornell University – 2014
• Cornell Chemical Engineering Teaching Assistant of the Year – 2012
• NSF GK12 Fellowship - 2012 - 2013
• American Institute for Chemical Engineers Maryland Sectional Scholarship – 2006
• Metabolic Engineering Summit Poster Award - 2017
• Gordon Research Conference Honorable Mention Poster Award - 2017
• Cornell Chemical Engineering Symposium Best Presentation - 2011
• Johns Hopkins Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Research Award - 2007
• Johns Hopkins Provost Undergraduate Research Award - 2006
• Johns Hopkins Chemical Engineering Best Poster – 2006
• Tau Beta Pi – 2006

Selected Publications

• Boock JT*, Freedman AJE*, Tompsett GA, Timko MT, Thompson JR, Prather KLJ. (2019) "Engineered microbial biofuel production and recovery under supercritical carbon dioxide." * Equal contribution
• Boock JT, Gupta A, and Prather KLJ. (2015) "Screens and modular design for metabolic pathway optimization." Opin. in Biotech. Volume 36, 189-98.
• Boock JT, King BC, Taw, MN Conrado RJ, Siu K ^‡, Stark J ^‡, Walker LP, Gibson DM, and DeLisa MP. (2015) "Repurposing a bacterial quality control mechanism to enhance enzyme production in living cells". J. Mol. Biol. Volume 427, 1451-63. ^‡ Supervised undergraduate co-authors
• Haitjema CH, Boock JT, Natarajan A, Dominguez MA, Gardner JG, Keating DH, Withers ST and DeLisa MP. "Universal genetic assay for engineering extracellular protein expression." ACS Synth Biol. (2014) 3(2). pg 74–82.
• Conrado RJ, Wu GC, Boock JT, Xu H, Chen SY, Lebar T, Turnšek J, Tomšič N, Avbelj M, Gaber R, Koprivnjak T, Mori J, Glavnik V, Vovk I, Benčina M, Hodnik V, Anderluh G, Dueber JE, Jerala R and DeLisa MP. "DNA-guided assembly of biosynthetic pathways promotes improved catalytic efficiency." Nucleic Acids Res. (2012) 40(4). pg 1879-1889.

Patents

• "Microbial system for biosynthesis of natural and engineered products coupled to in situ extraction in supercritical CO ₂". (2016). U.S. Provisional Application No.: 62/423,187.