John F. Robyt
Iowa State University, USA
Biography
Prof. John F. Robyt, Short Bio-sketch: John Robyt received a B.S. in chemistry from St. Louis University in 1958. In the summer of 1957, he received an Internship at the USDA Laboratory in Peoria, IL. He then went to Iowa State University in 1958 to study for a Ph.D., joining Prof. Dexter French’s group in Carbohydrate Chemistry and Enzymology, where he received a Ph.D. in 1962, publishing four papers: on the Action Pattern and Mechanism of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens α-amylase, Bacillus polymyxa ß-amylase, porcine pancreatic α-amylase, the separation and large-scale purification of maltodextrins by charcoal column chromatography, and the development of ascending and descending paper chromatography of carbohydrates. He then went to Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, LA on a Teaching Postdoctoral Fellowship and taught seven courses in chemistry and biochemistry; then the next year (1963) he received a NIH, Research Fellowship, to work and study at the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine in London, England, under Prof. William J. Whelan, and published 4 papers. In September 1964, he returned to Iowa State University, as an Instructor and Research Associate with Prof. Dexter French. He was appointed an Assistant Professor in 1967, Associate Professor in 1974, and a Professor in 1982 in the Department of Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Molecular Biology. Besides working on Starch Chemistry and Enzymology, he pursued studies on Dextran Chemistry, and Enzymology, and the formation and prevention of dental plaque, supported by the NIH. He has pursued the use of TLC of carbohydrates, use of NMR to study enzyme mechanisms, application of the use of radioisotopes, and analytical methods of carbohydrates and enzymes, such as reducing-value methods, total carbohydrates by phenol sulfuric acid, and several chromatographic methods, such as ascending and descending paper chromatography, TLC, and column chromatographic methods for separating carbohydrates and enzymes.
Abstract
Abstract : Recent advances for the mechanisms involved in glycan biosynthesis