Aaron Leconte

Biography

Education

• (2009-2012) NIH Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard University (Cambridge, MA)
• (2004-2009) Ph.D. Scripps Research Institute (La Jolla, CA)
• (2000-2004) B.A. Carleton College (Northfield, MN)

Academic Focus

My research group uses a blend of directed evolution and biochemical insight to engineer proteins which can be used as tools for medicine and biotechnology.

Courses Taught

• CHEM14L: Introduction to Chemistry
• CHEM29L: Accelerated General Chemistry
• CHEM40L: Introduction to Biological Chemistry
• CHEM125L: Advanced Laboratory in Biochemistry
• CHEM127L: Advanced Laboratory in Chemistry II
• CHEM177/BIO177: Biochemistry
• CHEM180: Applied Biomolecular Evolution

Selected Research and Publications

Publications

(underline indicates undergraduates from Claremont Colleges, *indicates equal author contribution)

1. S. J. Williams, J. A. Gewing-Mullins, W. K. Lieberman, B. Kolbaba-Kartchner, R. Iqbal, H. M. Burgess, C. M. Colee, M.Y. Ornelas, E. S. Reid-McLaughlin, J. H. Mills, J. A. Prescher*, and A. M. Leconte* (2023). Biochemical analysis leads to optimized of orthogonal bioluminescent tools, ChemBioChem, 24, e20220072.
2. T. A. Christensen, K. Y. Lee, S. Z. P. Gottlieb, M. B. Carrier, and A. M. Leconte (2022). Mutant polymerases capable of 2’ fluoro-modified nucleic acid synthesis and amplification with improved accuracy, RSC Chemical Biology, 3, 1044.
3. A. S. Thompson, S. E. Barrett, A. G. Weiden, A. Venkatesh, M. K. C. Seto, S. Z. P. Gottlieb, and A. M. Leconte (2020).  Accurate and efficient one-pot reverse transcription and amplification of 2’ fluoro-modified nucleic acids by commercial DNA polymerases, Biochemistry, 59, 2833.
4. M. D. Liu*, E. A. Warner*, C. A. Morrissey, C. W. Fick, T. S. Wu, M. Y. Ornelas, G. V. Ochoa, B. Zhang, C. M. Rathbun, W. B. Porterfield, J. A. Prescher, and A. M. Leconte, (2018). Statistical Coupling Analysis-guided library design for discovery of mutant luciferases, Biochemistry, 57, 663.
5. E. L. Lewis and A. M. Leconte, (2017).  DNA polymerase activity assay using near-infrared fluorescent labeled DNA visualized by acrylamide gel electrophoresis, Journal of Visualized Experiments, 128, e56228.
6. S. L. Rosenblum, A. G. Weiden, E. L. Lewis, A. L. Ogonowsky, H. E. Chia, S. E. Barrett, M. D. Liu, and A. M. Leconte, (2017) Design and discovery of new combinations of mutant DNA polymerases and modified DNA substrates, Chembiochem, 18, 816.
7. H. J. Schultz, A. M. Gochi, H. E. Chia, A. L. Ogonowsky, S. Chiang, N. Filipovic, A. Weiden, E. E. Hadley, S. E. Gabriel, and A. M. Leconte, (2015) Taq DNA polymerase mutants and 2’ modified sugar recognition, Biochemistry, 54, 5999

Awards and Honors

• Cottrell Postbaccalaureate Research Award (Research Corporation for Science Advancement), “Marcell Simon: Exploring the C-terminal domain of Firefly Luciferase”, Principal Investigator, $50,000 (2023-2024)
• Cottrell Scholar Collaborative Project (Research Corporation for Science Advancement), “Moving the Dial: A Network for Systemic Change”, Co-Investigator, $25,000 (2020-2022)
• R15 Award (National Institutes of Health), “High-throughput engineering and characterization of brighter luciferases”, Principal Investigator, $362,752 (2019-2023)
• CAREER Award (National Science Foundation), “Development of DNA polymerases capable of high fidelity modified DNA synthesis”, Principal Investigator, $400,000 (2018-2024)
• Jean Dreyfus Lectureship for Undergraduate Institutions, “Applying molecular evolution to solve chemical problems – funding to bring Prof. David R. Liu to the Claremont Colleges”, co-lead Principal Investigator, $18,500 (2017-2018)
• Cottrell Scholar Award (Research Corporation for Science Advancement), “Biochemical characterization and engineering of luciferases through Statistical Coupling Analysis”, Principal Investigator, $100,000 (2016-2019)
• Ellen Browning Scripps Foundation, “Acquisition of a Fluorimeter for Undergraduate Instruction and Research”, co-Principal Investigator, $20,000 (2016)
• Cottrell College Science Award (Research Corporation for Science Advancement), “Biochemical characterization and engineering of Taq DNA polymerase mutants for the synthesis of 2’modified DNA”, Principal Investigator, $50,200 (2014-2016)
• TriLink ResearchRewards Grant (TriLink Biotechnologies), “Discovery and Characterization of New Mutant DNA Polymerase – Modified Substrate Interactions”, Principal Investigator, $10,000 (2013-2015)
• S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, “Funding for purchase of a biomolecular gel imager”, co-Principal Investigator, $50,000 (2011).