Rate My Professor Brenda Blacklock

Blacklock's research focuses on biological chemistry and chemical biology, specifically the metabolic origins of very long chain fatty acids incorporated into sphingolipids and ceramides. She studies fatty acid elongation pathways, such as 3-ketoacyl-CoA synthases (KCS) and elongases (ELO), and their roles in cancer regulation, cell growth, differentiation, senescence, apoptosis, proliferation, inflammation, and motility. Utilizing Dictyostelium discoideum as a model organism, her work explores signal transduction and developmental processes. Key publications include 'Site-directed mutagenesis of a fatty acid elongase ELO-like condensing enzyme' (FEBS Lett., 2013), 'Functional diversity in fungal fatty acid synthesis. The first acetylenase from the Pacific Golden Chanterelle, Cantharellus formosus' (J. Biol. Chem., 2010), 'A fatty acid elongase ELO with novel activity from Dictyostelium discoideum' (Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm., 2008), 'Substrate specificity of Arabidopsis 3-ketoacyl-CoA synthases' (Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 2006), and 'G protein signaling events are activated at the leading edge of chemotactic cells' (Cell, 1998). She co-holds US Patent 6,713,664 for Fatty Acid Elongase 3-Ketoacyl CoA Synthase Polypeptides. For her outstanding service as a full-time lecturer, she received the School of Science Full-Time Lecturer Service Award in 2023.