Christopher Francklyn
Professor, Biochemistry
Adjunct Professor, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
Director, Vermont Biomedical Research Network
Larner College of Medicine
Department of Biochemistry
Given B401
Burlington, VT 05405
United States
- Postdoctoral Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 1989-1991
- Ph.D., University of California at Santa Barbara, 1988
BIO
Chris received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1988. From 1989-1991, he carried out postdoctoral studies with Paul Schimmel, then at M.I.T. He joined the University of Vermont in 1991. He is currently Professor in the Department of Biochemistry, and Chris served as one of the three co-directors of the University of Vermont undergraduate program in Biochemistry. He is currently the Director/PI of the Vermont Biomedical Research Network (VBRN).
For three decades, Christopher Francklyn has been investigating the machinery of protein synthesis and how mutations in the genes that encode these components function and can lead to complex human diseases. With longtime funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), he has studied the roles of these enzymes in such areas as cancer and inherited neurological diseases, collaborating with scientists across the U.S. and world. Francklyn, who joined UVM in 1991, helped organize and direct the University’s undergraduate program in biochemistry, and helped build UVM’s structural biology program. In addition, he has mentored dozens of UVM graduate and undergraduate students, held leadership positions on UVM’s Institutional Biosafety Committee, and served in editorial roles for national journals, and on several NIH Study Sections.
Francklyn was elected as an AAAS fellow for “paradigm shifting discoveries that link control of protein synthesis with biological mechanisms and regulatory compromises in cancer, blindness and deafness.”
Awards and Achievements
- 2020 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest multidisciplinary scientific society, for outstanding contributions to science.
- 2018 US Patent # US10125358B2. Granted: 11/13/2018. "Methods and Compounds for Increasing Threonyl-tRNA Synthetase Activity." Priority Date: 2012-07-25. Inventors: Christopher Francklyn and Karen Lounsbury and Jason Botton.
- 2018 US Patent # US10087435B2. Granted: 10/2/2018. "Methods and Compounds for Reducing Threonyl-tRNA Synthetase Activity." Priority Date: 2012-07-25. Inventors: Christopher Francklyn, Jason Botton, and Karen Lounsbury
- 2008 NIH Special Emphasis Panel, F31 Fellowships for Minority Graduate Students.
- 2006 Editorial Board, Journal of Biological Chemistry 2006-2010
- 2004 Chair, Molecular Genetics A Study Section, NIH 2004-2006
- 2002 Standing Member, NIH Biochemistry Study Section 2002-2005
- 1996 College of Medicine Faculty Development Award
- 1995 J. Walter Juckett Scholar Award
Bio
Chris received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1988. From 1989-1991, he carried out postdoctoral studies with Paul Schimmel, then at M.I.T. He joined the University of Vermont in 1991. He is currently Professor in the Department of Biochemistry, and Chris served as one of the three co-directors of the University of Vermont undergraduate program in Biochemistry. He is currently the Director/PI of the Vermont Biomedical Research Network (VBRN).
For three decades, Christopher Francklyn has been investigating the machinery of protein synthesis and how mutations in the genes that encode these components function and can lead to complex human diseases. With longtime funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), he has studied the roles of these enzymes in such areas as cancer and inherited neurological diseases, collaborating with scientists across the U.S. and world. Francklyn, who joined UVM in 1991, helped organize and direct the University’s undergraduate program in biochemistry, and helped build UVM’s structural biology program. In addition, he has mentored dozens of UVM graduate and undergraduate students, held leadership positions on UVM’s Institutional Biosafety Committee, and served in editorial roles for national journals, and on several NIH Study Sections.
Francklyn was elected as an AAAS fellow for “paradigm shifting discoveries that link control of protein synthesis with biological mechanisms and regulatory compromises in cancer, blindness and deafness.”
Awards and Achievements
- 2020 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest multidisciplinary scientific society, for outstanding contributions to science.
- 2018 US Patent # US10125358B2. Granted: 11/13/2018. "Methods and Compounds for Increasing Threonyl-tRNA Synthetase Activity." Priority Date: 2012-07-25. Inventors: Christopher Francklyn and Karen Lounsbury and Jason Botton.
- 2018 US Patent # US10087435B2. Granted: 10/2/2018. "Methods and Compounds for Reducing Threonyl-tRNA Synthetase Activity." Priority Date: 2012-07-25. Inventors: Christopher Francklyn, Jason Botton, and Karen Lounsbury
- 2008 NIH Special Emphasis Panel, F31 Fellowships for Minority Graduate Students.
- 2006 Editorial Board, Journal of Biological Chemistry 2006-2010
- 2004 Chair, Molecular Genetics A Study Section, NIH 2004-2006
- 2002 Standing Member, NIH Biochemistry Study Section 2002-2005
- 1996 College of Medicine Faculty Development Award
- 1995 J. Walter Juckett Scholar Award