Douglas Youvan
Encyclopedia
Biography
Prior to founding Karios Scientific Inc. with Mary M. Yang, Youvan was an Associate Professor of ChemistryChemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
at MIT, and his Ph.D. degree in biophysics
Biophysics
Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that uses the methods of physical science to study biological systems. Studies included under the branches of biophysics span all levels of biological organization, from the molecular scale to whole organisms and ecosystems...
was from UC Berkeley. Extensive litigation over Youvan's KCAT patent for solid phase enzyme kinetics screening in microcolonies set case law in the California Supreme Court. Youvan received an Associate's degree in Electronics and a Bachelor's degree in Biology at ages 15 and 19, respectively, from Pittsburg State University
Pittsburg State University
Pittsburg State University, also called Pitt State or PSU, is a public university with approximately 7,100 students located in Pittsburg, Kansas, United States. A large percentage of the student population consists of residents within the Pittsburg region; the gender proportion is relatively equal...
.
Research focus
In his 1981 Ph.D. thesis, Youvan found inhibitors (hypermodified nucleosides) of retroviral reverse transcriptase present in ribosomal RNA.In a 1984 publication with John E. Hearst, and in collaboration with Barry L. Marrs, Youvan published the nucleotide and deduced protein sequence for the photosynthetic reaction center – the proteins that convert light to chemical energy in photosynthetic organisms. This work correctly predicted the secondary structure of the 11 transmembrane helices of the reaction center as confirmed by X-ray crystallography. Later collaborative work with ultra-fast laser laboratories helped yield evidence for a vibrational coherence in the sub-picosecond processes of photosynthetic charge separation. International collaborative work was funded by a Human Frontier Science Program
Human Frontier Science Program
The Human Frontier Science Program is a program, based in Strasbourg, France, that funds basic research in life sciences. HFSP is supported by 13 countries and the European Union...
Award.
Youvan and his students have also worked in the field of combinatorial mutagenesis
Mutagenesis
Mutagenesis is a process by which the genetic information of an organism is changed in a stable manner, resulting in a mutation. It may occur spontaneously in nature, or as a result of exposure to mutagens. It can also be achieved experimentally using laboratory procedures...
which can be used for directed evolution of proteins, such as enzymes. At MIT, they discovered a pattern in the genetic code that is correlated with amino acid
Amino acid
Amino acids are molecules containing an amine group, a carboxylic acid group and a side-chain that varies between different amino acids. The key elements of an amino acid are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen...
residue hydropathy and molar volume. This observation can be compared with Frances Crick's declaration of the genetic code as being a frozen accident.
Youvan is also an inventor in the fields of digital imaging spectroscopy for absorption spectra and fluorescence, including Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET). As of 2011, his work is referenced by a number of US patents and patent applications.