Robert Haselbeck Email & Phone Number

San Diego, California, Us

San Diego, California, Us

San Diego, California, Us

San Diego, Ca, Us

• Contributed to development of an E. coli strain capable of industrial-scale production of the plastics precursor 1,4-butanediol from glucose and other sugars.• Helped to lead an effort to adapt and incorporate a Clostridial synthesis gas utilization pathway in E. coli for production of high-value industrial chemicals; demonstrated production of isopropyl alcohol from synthesis gas (CO, CO2 and H2) in the obligate anaerobe Clostridium ljundahlii.• Lead a metagenomic-based effort that successfully identified novel enzymes from environmental samples that can perform the final steps of Genomatica’s Glucose to Butadiene pathway. • Demonstrated the effective use of the metabolically active cell-free transcription-translation system TXTL for rapid high-throughput survey for enzymes capable of participating in production of nylon precursor compounds in E. coli.• Helped to lead and advance development of an engineered pathway for production of nylon precursors from glucose in E. coli; Successfully employed the metabolically active cell-free transcription-translation system TXTL for rapid high-throughput screens for genes/enzymes capable of participating in the nylons pathway.

• Helped to start Trius Therapeutics (then Rx3 Pharmaceuticals) with money I raised from a Phase II Biodefense SBIR grant • Lead further development of an antisense-based antibiotic mechanism-of-action assay in the biowarfare-relevant pathogen Bacillus anthracis.• Developed novel gene replacement and manipulation tools based on homologous recombination in B. anthracis.• Applied these tools to determine the relative essentiality of duplicated B. anthracis murA and metS genes, helping to focus efforts for antibiotic development against these important cellular targets.• In a collaboration with Cubist XXX, showed that antisense-mediated reduction of MprF expression causes increased daptomycin sensitivity in S. aureus.

• Developed a strong, inducible and tunable promoter system and expression plasmid for the Gram-positive bacterial pathogen Staphylococcus aureus.• Showed that conditional expression of antisense fragments of known S. aureus genes could limit or block their expression in a targeted fashion, thereby causing either partial or total blockage of cellular growth. • Developed a shotgun antisense screen with S. aureus genomic DNA that succeeded in identifying and cataloging most essential genes in that organism. • Showed that limited expression of antisense to a particular essential gene in question could specifically hypersensitize growth of S. aureus to antibiotics known to target the function of that essential gene.• Participated in development of the S. aureus TargetArray, a panel of antisense-hypersensitized strains representing a comprehensive set of key essential genes and functions that was successfully used to determine the mode of action of several under-defined antimicrobial compounds.

Doctor Of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Biological Sciences

Post Doctoral Associate, Mouse Models Of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

Post-Doctoral Fellow, Yeast Cellular Biology

Bachelor Of Science, Biological Sciences

Transfer