Montana State doctoral student awarded Kopriva Fellowship

BOZEMAN - William Walls, a doctoral student in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Montana State University, has been awarded the 2024 Kopriva Graduate Student Fellowship from the College of Letters and Science.

Walls was awarded $5,000 to support his research, including travel expenses. He plans to use some of the money to attend the Metals in Biology Gordon Research Conference in January, where he also hopes to present the results of his research.

Walls, who is originally from California and holds a bachelor's degree from Oregon State University, said he came to MSU for the opportunity to study in the laboratory of professor and department head Joan Broderick. There he focuses on understanding the mechanism of enzymes that modify chains of amino acids to give them antimicrobial properties. The enzymes responsible are called radical SAM enzymes, which form one of the largest superfamilies of enzymes in nature.

The goal of the research is to determine how particular enzymes create reactions that form potent antimicrobials. Walls said he spent a week over the summer at Northwestern University collaborating with Brian Hoffman, a professor of chemistry and molecular biosciences who has been conducting specialized experiments to halt enzyme reactions in process for about 10 years.

Stopping the reactions partway allows scientists to study the intermediates, which are compounds formed during chemical reactions before the end product, Walls explained.

"It's fundamental research. Understanding the exact steps of these enzymes to accomplish these reactions is a prerequisite for their use in bioengineering efforts," he said. "Other labs are trying to engineer these enzymes to tailor antimicrobials that maximize potency with minimal side effects."

Walls, who said he has been extremely satisfied with his decision to pursue his Ph.D. in Bozeman, will give a Kopriva Science Seminar Series lecture about his work during the 2024-2025 academic year.

"MSU has been wonderful," he said. "I took a dive into the unknown, and it has paid off really well."

After he graduates next spring, Walls hopes to work in the biotechnology industry or for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. He said he would like to apply his knowledge of enzymes toward renewable energy solutions or to developing technologies that degrade plastics.

The College of Letters and Science established the Kopriva Science Seminar Series Endowment in 1991 through a generous gift from Phil Kopriva, a 1957 graduate of MSU in biological sciences and chemistry. The endowment supports a lecture series in the general area of biomedical sciences and recognizes and supports the research of outstanding graduate students in complex biological systems or biomedical science. See a list of past recipients at www.montana.edu/lettersandscience/kopriva/fellowship.html.