Joseph P. Noel, Ph.D.

SCIENCE ADVISOR & CO-FOUNDER

Dr. Noel is a Professor and Director of the Jack H. Skirball Center for Chemical Biology and Proteomics at The Salk Institute for Biological Studies and an Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He holds the Arthur and Julie Woodrow Chair at the Salk Institute. Dr. Noel’s research seeks to decipher the core principles influencing evolutionary change in proteins and protein networks, particularly enzymes and metabolic pathways underlying the emergence and rapid expansion of chemical diversity in living systems. The ultimate goal of the work is to understand the chemical, structural and evolutionary tenets governing this extraordinary form of biodiversity and biocomplexity. Dr. Noel focuses on the intricate biosynthetic pathways plants and microbes use to produce the vast array of compounds that allow them to survive and prosper in the multitude of challenging ecosystems found all over the earth. Some of these natural chemicals are used for “communication” with other species in the their local environment and some are used for their own defense – both as natural chemical weapons against other organisms or as chemical strategies to adapt to challenging physical environments. Such compounds are also a rich source of new drugs. In addition to understanding the chemistry and evolutionary principles that underlie this extraordinary biological diversity, Dr. Noel also seeks to harness and alter these pathways to produce chemical “scaffolds” that can provide the starting point for the development of new drugs. Dr. Noel’s research has concentrated on the biosynthetic machinery for three important classes of natural compounds, polyketides, terpenes and terpene-polyketide hybrids. These chemicals have played an important role in the pharmaceutical industry as sources of new drugs. By understanding the detailed structures and functions of the enzymes that produce these compounds, how these enzyme structures have evolved over time, and how these enzymes organize themselves in space and time in cells forming complex metabolic pathways, Noel advances plant metabolic engineering by creating new versions of the biosynthetic enzymes and pathways that can synthesize altered compounds as a potential source of new biological tools and future pharmaceuticals. Joe received a B.S. in natural sciences/chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown and a Ph.D. in chemistry from The Ohio State University and postdoctoral studies at Yale University in structural biology with the late Paul B. Sigler.