Dr.toni Kutchan
Principal Investigator
Department of Plant Science
Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
United States of America
Biography
Toni serves as Vice President for Research and is the Oliver M. Langenberg Distinguished Investigator. Prior to joining the Danforth Center in 2006, she spent 20 years researching biochemistry at the University of Munich and the Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry in Germany. In 2010, Toni was elected to the prestigious German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina in recognition of her scientific achievements. Toni received her Ph.D. in biochemistry from St. Louis University and bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the Illinois Institute of Technology.
Research Interest
" Toni is currently investigating two aspects of natural products that are found in plants; how plants produce medicinal natural products at the enzyme and gene level, which could lead to new sources of medications for use against conditions such as dementia and cancer; and the use of plant natural products as components of biofuels. "
Publications
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Wurtzel ET, Kutchan TM. Plant metabolism, the diverse chemistry set of the future. Science. 2016 Sep 16;353(6305):1232-6.
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Kilgore MB, Kutchan TM. The Amaryllidaceae alkaloids: biosynthesis and methods for enzyme discovery. Phytochemistry reviews. 2016 Jun 1;15(3):317-37.
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Augustin MM, Ruzicka DR, Shukla AK, Augustin JM, Starks CM, et al. Elucidating steroid alkaloid biosynthesis in Veratrum californicum: production of verazine in Sf9 cells. The Plant Journal. 2015 Jun 1;82(6):991-1003.
