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Dr. Douglas D. Randall
Biochemistry
B.S., South Dakota State University, 1965
Ph.D., Michigan State University, 1970 |
Douglas D. Randall is originally from
South Dakota where he attended South Dakota State University on
a General Motors Corporation Scholarship and majored in chemistry.
As an undergraduate, Randall began his research career in the USDA-ARS’s
North Grain Insects Research Laboratory characterizing enzymes from
insect blood and isolating insect feeding attractants from plants.
Randall earned a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Michigan State University
where he studied the enzymes involved in plant photorespiration
with N.E. Tolbert. He had an NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship to further
study the interacting functions of photorespiration and respiration
with Lester J. Reed at the Clayton Foundation Biochemical Institute
at the University of Texas at Austin. Studies with Reed focused
on the regulation of alpha ketoacid dehydrogenase complexes. In
1971, Randall joined the University of Missouri-Columbia (MU) faculty
in the Agricultural Chemistry Department as a plant biochemist.
He is currently professor of biochemistry at MU.
Since joining MU, Randall’s research has focused on plant
metabolism, signal transduction, regulation of plant enzymes and
understanding the metabolic interactions between photosynthesis,
photorespiration and respiration. One primary theme of his research
has been the characterization of the plant alpha ketoacid dehydrogenase
multi-enzyme complexes including identify the genes, import and
assembly of the component subunits and the regulation of the complexes
in various organelles. These multi-enzyme complexes (up to 200 proteins)
occupy strategic positions in plant metabolism and are critical
to energy production and oil biosynthesis. His research team established
the first plant enzyme to be regulated by reversible phosphorylation
and they established that this biochemical switch mechanism regulates
which pathway supports mitochondrial energy production during photosynthesis.
His work on plant protein phosphorylation led to the founding of
the nationwide Plant Protein Phosphorylation Working Group involving
over 45 research teams. His interactions and collaborations with
plant biology colleagues at MU led to the establishment of the Interdisciplinary
Plant Biochemistry and Physiology Group in 1981. Under Randall’s
directorship and MU’s Food for 21st Century Program, this
group has grown from nine to over forty research teams. He has also
been active in developing the Life Sciences Center at MU and the
Donald Danforth Plant Sciences Center in St. Louis.
Randall has served on the editorial boards of Plant Physiology,
Annual Reviews of Plant Physiology and Plant Molecular Biology,
Protein Expression and Purification, Biochemical Archives and Current
Topics in Plant Biochemistry and Physiology. He is a past officer
and Chair of the Board of Trustees of the American Society of Plant
Biologists. Currently serves on Science Liaison Committee for the
Danforth Plant Science Center and continues efforts to facilitate
interdisciplinary research and training.
He has received various awards and honors including MU’s
William H. Byler Distinguished Professor Award, a Faculty/Alumni
Award from MU, South Dakota State University’s Distinguished
Alumni Award, Michigan State Biochemistry Department’s Alumni
Award, and MU’s Gold Chalk Teaching award. In 1973, he was
chosen to be a member of NSF’s Great Barrier Reef expedition
to study photorespiration in marine photosynthetic organisms.
Randall was appointed to the National Science Board in 2002.
July 2004
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