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Quentin Dudley

Quentin Dudley

Assistant Professor

Quentin Dudley joined the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering as an assistant professor in January 2024. He completed his PhD at Northwestern University, developing a new approach for prototyping enzyme pathways using cell-free protein synthesis. Afterward, he spent four years as a postdoctoral researcher at the Earlham Institute and John Innes Centre in Norwich, United Kingdom where he improved tools for engineering plants to produce valuable bioactive molecules such as strictosidine, a precursor to anticancer compounds. Before joining UW-Madison, he led the analytical chemistry team at the plant synthetic biology company Calyxt and was a field strategist for Speculative Technologies, a non-profit research organization.

The Dudley lab will be researching sustainable production of useful biomolecules with a particular focus on cell-free and plant synthetic biology.

Department

Chemical & Biological Engineering

Contact

3635, Engineering Hall
1415 Engineering Dr
Madison, WI

  • PhD 2017, Northwestern University
  • MS 2012, Univ. of Nebraska-Lincoln
  • BS 2011, Univ. of Nebraska-Lincoln

  • Plant synthetic biology
  • metabolic engineering
  • cell-free systems
  • genome editing

  • 2019 Gordon Research Seminar Plant Metabolic Engineering, Best Oral Presentation
  • 2016 Department of Chemical Engineering, Northwestern University, Travel Award
  • 2015 Northwestern University, Searle Teaching Certificate Program Practitioner
  • 2013 Molecular Biophysics Training Program Trainee
  • 2012 Northwestern University, Cabell Fellowship Recipient
  • 2011 University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Chancellor’s Scholar
  • 2011 Biological Systems Engineering Department, Univ. of Nebraska-Lincoln, Outstanding Senior
  • 2010 Univ. of Nebraska-Lincoln, President the Innocents Society (the Chancellor’s senior honorary)
  • 2007 National Merit Scholar

  • Tomavz, vSpela,, Petek, M., Lukan, Tjavsa,, Pogavcar, Karmen,, Stare, K., Teixeira Prates, E., Jacobson, D. A., Zrimec, J., Bajc, G., Butala, M., & others, (2023). A mini-TGA protein modulates gene expression through heterogeneous association with transcription factors. Plant physiology, 191(3), 1934--1952.
  • Vollheyde, K., Dudley, Q., Yang, T., Oz, M. T., Mancinotti, D., Fedi, M. O., Heavens, D., Linsmith, G., Chhetry, M., Smedley, M. A., & others, (2023). An improved Nicotiana benthamiana bioproduction chassis provides novel insights into nicotine biosynthesis. New Phytologist, 240(1), 302--317.
  • Dudley, Q., Raitskin, O., & Patron, N. J. (2022). Cas9-mediated targeted mutagenesis in plants. In Plant Synthetic Biology: Methods and Protocols (pp. 1–26). Springer US New York, NY.
  • Tomavz, vSpela,, Petek, M., Lukan, Tjavsa,, Pogavcar, Karmen,, Stare, K., Prates, E. T., Jacobson, D. A., Zrimec, J., Bajc, G., Butala, M., & others, (2022). A mini-TGA protein, lacking a functional DNA-binding domain, modulates gene expression through heterogeneous association with transcription factors. bioRxiv, 2022--03.
  • Dudley, Q., Jo, S., Guerrero, D. A., Chhetry, M., Smedley, M. A., Harwood, W. A., Sherden, N. H., O’Connor, S. E., Caputi, L., & Patron, N. J. (2022). Reconstitution of monoterpene indole alkaloid biosynthesis in genome engineered Nicotiana benthamiana. Communications biology, 5(1), 949.
  • Dudley, Q., Cai, Y., Kallam, K., Debreyne, H., Carrasco Lopez, J. A., & Patron, N. J. (2021). Biofoundry-assisted expression and characterization of plant proteins. Synthetic Biology, 6(1), ysab029.
  • Cai, Y., Dudley, Q., & Patron, N. J. (2021). Measurement of transgene copy number in plants using droplet digital PCR. Bio-protocol, 11(13), e4075--e4075.
  • Dudley, Q. (2020). Cell-Free Protein Synthesis As a Tool for Prototyping Metabolic Pathways and Guiding Plant Genome Engineering. In 2020 Virtual AIChE Annual Meeting.
  • Karim, A. S., Dudley, Q., Juminaga, A., Yuan, Y., Crowe, S. A., Heggestad, J. T., Garg, S., Abdalla, T., Grubbe, W. S., Rasor, B. J., & others, (2020). In vitro prototyping and rapid optimization of biosynthetic enzymes for cell design. Nature Chemical Biology, 16(8), 912--919.
  • Dudley, Q., Karim, A. S., Nash, C. J., & Jewett, M. C. (2020). In vitro prototyping of limonene biosynthesis using cell-free protein synthesis. Metabolic Engineering, 61, 251--260.

  • CBE 326 - Momentum and Heat Transfer Operations (Spring 2025)
  • CBE 599 - Special Problems (Spring 2025)
  • CBE 890 - Pre-Dissertator's Research (Spring 2025)
  • B M E 560 - Biochemical Engineering (Fall 2024)
  • CBE 560 - Biochemical Engineering (Fall 2024)
  • CBE 599 - Special Problems (Fall 2024)
  • CBE 890 - Pre-Dissertator's Research (Fall 2024)
  • CBE 599 - Special Problems (Summer 2024)
  • CBE 890 - Pre-Dissertator's Research (Summer 2024)
  • B M E 560 - Biochemical Engineering (Spring 2024)
  • CBE 560 - Biochemical Engineering (Spring 2024)
  • CBE 599 - Special Problems (Spring 2024)
  • CBE 890 - Pre-Dissertator's Research (Spring 2024)