Rate My Professor Gary Schenk

Professor Schenk's research centers on the discovery, characterisation, and optimisation of enzymes for bioeconomy applications, such as converting renewable feedstocks or waste into valuable products, engineering metal-binding proteins (biochelators) for critical metals extraction, and designing inhibitors for enzymes involved in antibiotic resistance, infections, and bone disorders. His interests encompass enzyme catalysis, protein stability, metallohydrolases including purple acid phosphatases, metallo-β-lactamases, ketol-acid reductoisomerase, and organophosphate-degrading enzymes; biomimetics; bioremediation; and techniques like cryo-EM and ancestral gene reconstruction. With over 250 peer-reviewed publications, key works include 'Phosphate forms an unusual tripodal complex with the Fe-Mn center of sweet potato purple acid phosphatase' (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 2005), 'The Catalytic Mechanisms of Binuclear Metallohydrolases' (Chemical Reviews, 2006), 'Organophosphate-degrading metallohydrolases: structure and function of potent catalysts for applications in bioremediation' (Coordination Chemistry Reviews, 2016), 'Structures of fungal and plant acetohydroxyacid synthases' (Nature, 2020), and 'Sequence- and structure-guided improvement of the catalytic performance of a GH11 family xylanase from Bacillus subtilis' (Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2021). His contributions have earned international acclaim through plenary and keynote lectures, invitations for reviews in top journals, and awards such as SCMB Awards for Outstanding Contribution to Engagement (2017, 2014), Erasmus+ Visiting Professor Fellowship (TUM, 2019, 2017), and August Wilhelm Scheer Visiting Professorship (TUM, 2017).