Presentations

  • XIII European Congress on Marine Natural Products and XVII International Symposium on Marine Natural Products joint meeting, Granada, Spain. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 01/2023.
  • Discovery and Engineering of Natural Products for Human Health, 7th Annual Center for Chemical and Synthetic Biology (CCSB) meeting, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 01/2023.
  • Unlocking the Chemical Potential of the Fungal Terpenome, 3rd International Conference of Marine Fungal Natural Products, University Cote-d’ Azur, Nice, France (Virtual). Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 01/2021.
  • Chemical Potential of Great Salt Lake Microorganisms, XVI International Symposium on Marine Natural Products, Peniche, Portugal. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 01/2019.
  • Society of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology annual meeting, Minneapolis, MN. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 01/2023.
  • Gordon Research Conference on Enzymes, Coenzymes and Metabolic Pathways, Waterville, NH. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 01/2023.
  • Society of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology, Natural Products Biosynthesis Meeting, San Diego, CA. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 01/2023.
  • Unlocking the Chemical Potential of the Terpenome from Marine-Derived Fungi, American Society of Pharmacognosy annual meeting, Charleston, SC, USA. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 01/2022.
  • Harnessing the Chemical Potential of Unprecedented Microbes from Great Salt Lake, Seoul National University (virtual). Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 01/2022.
  • Title TBD, US-Japan meeting on Natural Products Biosynthesis, Karuizawa, Japan. Invited Talk/Keynote, Accepted, 01/2024.
  • Title TBD, 2nd International Conference on RiPPs, Seoul, South Korea. Invited Talk/Keynote, Accepted, 01/2024.
  • Discovery and Engineering of Natural Products for Human Health, McGill University, Montreal, Canada. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 01/2023.
  • Harnessing the Chemical Potential of Unprecedented Microorganisms from Great Salt Lake, Salty Seminary Series, Great Salt Lake Institute, USA (virtual). Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 01/2022.
  • Unlocking the Chemical Potential of the Fungal Terpenome, 3rd Synthetic Biology for Natural Products Conference, Cancun, Mexico. Invited Talk/Keynote, Presented, 01/2022.
  • Unlocking the Chemical Potential of the Fungal Terpenome, Directing Biosynthesis VI, Edinburgh, Scotland. Presentation, Other, 01/2022.

Patents

  • BIOINFORMATIC PIPELINE FOR DETERMINING GENE-GENE CO-OCCURRENCE. Status: Published. Inventors: E. R. Bring Horvath, J. M. Winter, M. A. Mulvey, E. J. Hernandez, M. G. Stein. File date 01/2022; Issue date 01/2023.

Research Interests

Secondary metabolites are specialized small molecules produced in nature and often possess a variety of biological activities that can be used toward improving our quality of life. These molecules possess exquisite chemical diversity and are often an inspiration for the development of new pharmaceutical agents. At a time when antibiotic resistant bacterial infections are reaching epidemic proportions, there is an urgent need to discover new therapeutic agents. It has been shown that biological pressures influence the structural diversity of compounds produced in nature and marine-derived microorganisms often contain specialized enzymes not found in their terrestrial counterparts. Thus, these specialized microorganisms serve as an ideal resource for drug discovery efforts and for the characterization of novel biosynthetic enzymes.

Our lab is focused on:

1)  elucidating the biosynthetic blueprint that nature uses for assembling biologically active compounds in bacteria and fungi,

2)  manipulating and reprograming biosynthetic systems to generate new compounds with enhanced biological activities and

3)  developing individual enzymes that carry out complicated reactions into renewable and environmentally friendly biocatalysts.

These enzymes can be engineered to enhance the efficacy of existing therapeutics or be used in the synthesis or semi synthesis of pharmaceutically important compounds.

Publications

  • E. J. Caro-Diaz & M. J. Balunas, L.-A. Giddings, B. T. Murphy, C. B. Naman, C. Salomon, K. Tidgewell, J. M. Winter (2023). Outlining Part of the Hidden Curriculum: Perspectives on How to Successfully Navigate Scientific Conferences. -. Accepted, 01/2023.
  • M-C. Kim & J. M. Winter, R. Cullum, A. Smith, W. Fenical (2023). Bioinformatic Analysis Aids in Assigning the Stereostructures of Marinolides A and B, 24- and 26-Membered Macrolactones from a Chemically Exceptional Marine-Derived Bacterium. MDPI (Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute). Published, 01/2023.
  • S. C. Heard & K. L. Diehl, J. M. Winter (2023). Biosynthesis of the Fungal Nonribosomal Peptide Penilumamide A and Biochemical Characterization of a Pterin-Specific Adenylation Domain. Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). Published, 01/2023.
  • A. J. Bradshaw & B. Dentinger, T. Backman, V. Ramírez-Cruz, D. Forrister, J. M. Winter, G. Furci, P. Stamets, L. Guzmán-Dávalos (2022). DNA Authentication and Chemical Analysis of Psilocybe Mushrooms Reveal Widespread Taxonomic Misdeterminations and Inconsistencies in Metabolites. American Society for Microbiology. Published, 01/2022.
  • B. R. Terlouw & K. Blin, J. C. Navarro-Munoz, et al (2022). A Community-Driven Effort to Annotate Experimentally Validated Biosynthetic Gene Clusters. Oxford University Press. Published, 01/2022.
  • P. Zhang & G. Wu, S. C. Heard, C. Niu, S. A. Bell, F. Li, L. Ye, Y. Zhang, J. M. Winter (2022). Identification and Characterization of a Cryptic Bifunctional Type I Diterpene Synthase Involved in Talaronoid Biosynthesis from a Marine-Derived Fungus. American Chemical Society (ACS). Published, 01/2022.
  • S. C. Heard & J. M. Winter (2022). Biosynthesis of the Fungal Nonribosomal Peptide Penilumamide A and Biochemical Characterization of a Pterine-Specific Adenylation Domain. Preprint. Published, 01/2022.
  • P. Y-T. Chen & A. Sanjoy, J. Chekan, et al (2022). Structural Basis of Stereospecific Vanadium-Dependent Haloperoxidase Family Enzymes in Napyradiomycin Biosynthesis. American Chemical Society (ACS). Published, 01/2022.
  • J. M. Winter (2021). A Community Effort: Combining Functional Amplicon Sequencing and Metagenomics Reveals Potential Biosynthetic Gene Clusters Associated with Protective Phenotypes in Rhizosphere Microbiomes. American Society for Microbiology. Published, 01/2021.
  • G. Wu & B. T. M. Dentinger, J. R. Nielson, R. T. Peterson, J. M. Winter (2021). Emerimicins V-X, 15 Residue Peptaibols Discovered from an Acremonium sp. through Integrated Genomic and Chemical Approaches. J Nat Prod. Published, 01/2021.
  • Y-H. Shin & Y. Ban, J. Shin, I. W. Park, S. Yoon, K. Ko, J. Shin, S-J. Nam, J. M. Winter, Y. Kim, Y. J. Yoon, D-C. Oh (2021). Azetidine-Bearing Non-Ribosomal Peptides, Bonnevillamides D and E, Isolated from a Carrion Beetle-Associated Actinomycete. American Chemical Society (ACS). Published, 01/2021.
  • Antifungal Natural Products & G. Wu, J. M. Winter (2021). S. C. Heard. Curr Opin Biotechnol. Published, 01/2021.
  • S. C. Heard & G. Wu, J. M. Winter (2020). Discovery and Characterization of a Cytochalasan Biosynthetic Cluster from the Marine-Derived Fungus Aspergillus flavipes CNL-338. J Antibiot (Tokyo). Published, 01/2020.
  • J. P. Torres & Z. Lin, J. M. Winter, P. J. Krug, E. W. Schmidt (2020). Animal Biosynthesis of Complex Polyketides in a Photosynthetic Partnership. Nat Commun. Published, 01/2020.
  • M-C. Kim & J. M. Winter, R. Cullum, Z. Li, W. Fenical (2020). Complementary Genomic, Bioinformatics and Chemical Approaches Facilitate the Absolute Structure Assignment of Ionostatin, a Linear Polyketide from a Rare Marine-Derived Actinomycete. ACS Chem Biol. Published, 01/2020.
  • C. B. Naman & J. M. Winter, K. VanderMolen (2020). Younger Member Events and Research Symposium Go Virtual. American Society of Pharmacognosy Newsletter. Published, 01/2020.
  • J. M. Winter (2020). Exploring the Chemical Potential of Great Salt Lake Microorganisms. XVI International Symposium on Marine Natural Products/XI European Conference on Marine Natural Products | Mar Drugs. Published, 01/2020.
  • S. Bell & J. M. Winter (2015). Elucidation of the Mangicol and Neomangicol Biosynthetic Pathway from the Marine Fungi Fusarium equiseti CNC-477. Planta Med. Published, 01/2015.
  • J. M. Winter (2007). Mentoring in ASP: A Mentee's Perspective. American Society of Pharmacognosy Newsletter. Published, 01/2007.