Purdue University-Main Campus · ChemistryThe Streptomyces Nexus
Elizabeth Ivy Parkinson · West Lafayette, Indiana
Research Focus
Dr. Elizabeth Ivy Parkinson's lab at Purdue University focuses on discovering novel medicine from soil bacteria called Streptomyces. They analyze the genetic blueprints of these bacteria to find hidden pathways that could lead to new bioactive compounds, specifically cyclic peptides. Another goal is to develop unique enzymes that can be used to create these promising compounds more efficiently, enhancing the laboratory's capability to synthesize and test potential new drugs.
Streptomycescyclic peptidesbioinformaticsbiocatalystsnatural productssynthetic biologyenzyme developmentpeptide synthesis
Research Aims
5AIM 01Identify and characterize new cyclic peptide biosynthetic enzymes
AIM 02Develop efficient biocatalysts for the synthesis of cyclic tetrapeptides
AIM 03Predict and chemically synthesize bioactive natural products from cryptic gene clusters
AIM 04Test synthesized peptides for biological activity
AIM 05Create libraries of cyclic peptides for drug discovery.
Skills the Lab Values
bioinformaticschemical synthesisPCRnext-generation sequencingenzyme characterizationcell culturebiological testinglibrary screeningprotein purification
Output against the department
Publications108bottom 23% of dept.167th of 216
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations2.8kbottom 19% of dept.175th of 216
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.