Rate My Professor Brenda Blacklock

Brenda Blacklock, Ph.D., serves as Teaching Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at the Indiana University Indianapolis School of Science. She obtained her B.Sc. from the University of Waterloo in 1989 and her Ph.D. from the University of Alberta in 1994, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University in 1997. Her career at Indiana University Indianapolis includes prior roles as Assistant Research Professor and Senior Lecturer. Blacklock has made significant contributions to teaching by developing new courses, including the sophomore professional development course Cornerstone in Chemistry and the writing-intensive advanced course Approaches in Chemical Biology. She mentors undergraduate students through independent research in her laboratory, Honors and Capstone projects, and served as co-Director of the NSF-funded IU Indianapolis Undergraduate Research and Mentoring program, which provided opportunities for students from underrepresented groups. Additionally, she is a SEIRI Associate and has participated in faculty governance as Non-Tenure Track Representative on the IU Indianapolis Faculty Council.

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.