Rate My Professor Gary Schenk

Professor Gary Schenk is a Professor in the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, Faculty of Science, at the University of Queensland. He earned a Diploma in Chemistry from the University of Bern, Switzerland, in 1992, and a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Queensland in 1997 under supervisors Associate Professors Peter Nixon and Ron Duggleby. Following his PhD, he undertook postdoctoral research at UQ under Professors John de Jersey, Susan Hamilton, and Graeme Hanson, supported by Fellowships from the Wellcome Trust and UQ. In 2000, he collaborated with Professor Geoff Sykes at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, and later held a Senior Postdoctoral Fellowship at Stanford University in the Chemistry Department under Professor Edward Solomon. Appointed Lecturer in (Bio)Physical Chemistry at UQ in 2003, he advanced to Senior Lecturer in 2006, Associate Professor in 2008 after receiving the UQ Foundation Research Excellence Award in 2007, and Full Professor in 2015. From 2013 to 2017, he held an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship. He maintained a fractional (50%) professorial appointment at Maynooth University, Ireland, from 2011 to 2013. Currently, he is Senior Group Leader in Protein Chemistry and Enzymology since 2003, Head of International Engagement at SCMB from 2014 to 2019, Chair of the HDR Committee from 2009 to 2011, and holds affiliate professorships in UQ's Sustainable Minerals Institute and Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology. He serves as Secretary of the Global Bioeconomy Alliance since 2023 and Ambassador for the Technical University of Munich since 2020.

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).