Biographical Sketch                                                              ROY A. JENSEN (rjensen@ufl.edu)  352-475-3019

 

 

 

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND

Undergraduate

 

B.A.  [Majors: Psychology and Biology]  Ripon College; Ripon, WI            *Phi Beta Kappa                          1954-1958

 

Graduate

 

Ph.D.  [Biochemistry and Genetics]  M. D. Anderson Hospital & Tumor Inst.; Houston, TX/jointly with the

University of Texas; Austin, TX               *Predoctoral Fellowship: NIH                                                1959-1963

 

 

 

ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT

 

University of Washington School of Medicine; Dept. of Microbiology; Seattle, WA

            *NIH Postdoctoral Fellow and Research Instructor with Eugene W. Nester                                           1964-1966

 

State University of New York at Buffalo; Dept. of Biology; Buffalo, NY

 Assistant Professor                                                                                                                                           1966-1968

 

Baylor College of Medicine; Dept. of Microbiology; Houston, TX

            Associate Professor          *NIH Career Development Award                                                                     1968-1973

 

M. D. Anderson Hospital & Tumor Institute; Dept. of Biology; Houston, TX                                      

            Associate Professor                                                                                                                                               1974-1976

 

State University of New York at Binghamton; Dept. of Biology; Binghamton, NY

            Professor                                                                                                                                                                  1976-1986

 

University of Florida; Dept. of Microbiology & Cell Science; Gainesville, FL

            Professor                                                                                                                                                                  1986-2000

 

University of Florida; Dept. of Microbiology & Cell Science; Gainesville, FL

            Emeritus Professor                                                                                                                                                2000-present

 

University of Chicago; Dept. of Computer Science; Chicago, IL

            Professor (part time)                                                                                                                                               2007-present

 

 

ADMINISTRATIVE POSITIONS

 

U. S. Atomic Energy Commission/Energy Development Administration/Dept. of Energy; Germantown, MD

            Geneticist/Molecular Biologist for Biomedical Programs                                                                          1973-1976

 

Center for Somatic-cell Genetics & Biochemistry; SUNY at Binghamton; Binghamton, NY                                                                                                                             

            Director                                                                                                                                                                     1976-1986

 

Biomedical Research Support Grant   SUNY at Binghamton; Binghamton, NY

            Director                                                                                                                                                                     1978-1986

 

MetaGene Corporation (a biotechnology company working on novel herbicides and antimicrobials active against phytopathogenic bacteria); Progress Park; Gainesville, FL.
            President                                                                                                                                                                   1987-1997



RESEARCH FUNDING

 

R. Jensen has received research funding for a career total of more than eight million dollars from many of the major granting agencies, including NIH, NSF, DOE, NASA and USDA.

 

 

PATENT

 

“Novel Method and Compositions for the Selective Control of Weeds, Pest and Microbes”                 1994

 

 

PUBLICATIONS

 

R. Jensen has published more than 225 research articles and reviews in the major journals of biochemistry, microbiology, genetics and evolution.

 

 

 

WEBSITES

 

www.aropath.lanl.gov    and    http://theseed.uchicago.edu/FIG/Html/tyrASubsystem.html

 

 

MILESTONE ACCOMPLISHMENTS

 

Delineation of the regulatory mechanism named Sequential Feedback Inhibition in Bacillus subtilis was one of the early findings indicating that alternative patterns of allosteric control existed in nature for the control of branched biochemical pathways. Comparative work in the Jensen Lab has since demonstrated a variety of allosteric control patterns in bacteria and in plants.

 

Formulation of the “Recruitment Hypothesis” (also called the “Patchwork Hypothesis”) in 1976 is frequently cited as a credible mechanism for differential specialization of homologous proteins and the expansion of metabolic repertoires.            

 

Discovery and proof-of-structure of L-Arogenate (first named pretyrosine) was accomplished using a cyanobacterium, where it was demonstrated as a precursor of L-tyrosine.  It was later shown to be a precursor of L-phenylalanine (or of both amino acids) in certain other organisms.

 

The nature of pathway diversity for phenylalanine and tyrosine biosynthesis at the enzymological level has been elucidated by a comprehensive program for characterization of enzymes and their regulation from a variety of plant and microbial organisms over a period of 40 years.  These include broad-specificity enzymes utilizing both prephenate and L-arogenate (cyclohexadienyl dehydrogenase and cyclohexadienyl dehydratase), as well as narrow-specificity enzymes utilizing only L-arogenate or only prephenate.