A. James Link

A. James Link is a Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Princeton University, serving as Director of Graduate Studies. His research focuses on engineering peptides and proteins using bioorthogonal chemistry and lasso peptide systems. Link earned his BSE from Princeton University and PhD from Caltech. His lab investigates antimicrobial lasso peptides, RiPPs, and their applications in drug discovery and molecular machines.

• Education: BSE (Princeton, 2000), MS (Caltech, 2002), PhD (Caltech, 2006)
• Affiliations: Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Department of Chemistry, Department of Molecular Biology, Omenn-Darling Bioengineering Institute
• Research Interests: Protein engineering, lasso peptide biosynthesis, antimicrobial agents, RiPP enzymology

Key achievements include developing genome-mining algorithms for lasso peptides and discovering novel compounds like ubonodin. His work bridges chemistry, biology, and engineering to address challenges in health and sustainability.

Recent publications highlight advances in lasso peptide structure prediction (LassoPred), anti-thrombosis peptide inhibitors, and RiPP biosynthesis mechanisms. Awards include Sloan and NSF CAREER fellowships.

• Grants & Awards: Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship (2013-15), DuPont Young Professor (2011), NSF CAREER Award (2010)
• Lab Activities: Engineering lasso peptides for molecular machines, developing high-throughput screening tools, and exploring RiPP-based antibiotics