Mary A. Schuler

Dr. Mary A. Schuler is a Professor of Cell & Developmental Biology and Biochemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's School of Molecular & Cellular Biology. She holds affiliations with the Department of Plant Biology, School of Integrative Biology, and the Institute for Genomic Biology. Her research focuses on cytochrome P450 monooxygenases (P450s) in plants and insects, exploring their roles in metabolic pathways, detoxification, and structural biology.

She earned her B.A. (1974) and Ph.D. (1981) in Biochemistry and Chemistry from Cornell University, followed by postdoctoral studies at Washington University. Her work integrates structural modeling, biochemical assays, and genomic approaches to understand P450 functions in plant defense, insecticide resistance, and biopharmaceutical production.

Key projects include defining P450 roles in Arabidopsis fatty acid metabolism, insect detoxification of plant toxins, and structural biology via solid-state NMR. Her research also examines circadian regulation of P450 genes and engineering medicinal plant alkaloid pathways in yeast. Recent collaborations span plant-insect interactions, honeybee metabolism, and mosquito P450s involved in insecticide resistance.

Publications highlight her contributions to P450 modeling, enzyme engineering, and gravitational signaling (e.g., GPS1/P450 roles in plant gravitropism). Her work bridges biochemistry, genomics, and evolutionary biology to address agricultural and biomedical challenges.